Development and Indigenization: Islamic and European Horoscopic Astrology in Ming and Qing China
Dr. Haohao Zhu
The dissemination of Islamic and European horoscopic astrology in China is a significant field in the history of Chinese astrology. It has been studied seriously by a number of scholars, including Michio Yano, Chen Ying, Nicolas Standaert, Shi Yunli, Han Qi, etc. However, there are still many new questions to be answered and new texts to be analyzed. Based on the current research results, exciting problems, and newly-discovered texts, I divided my research scheme into three main parts: 1. A thorough analysis of the dissemination of European astrology. I will reconstruct the route of dissemination of European astrology, and search for occurrences of the Regiomontanus House System algorithm and concrete European astrology divination methods in Chinese books. 2. A comprehensive investigation of the dissemination of Islamic astrology. I will analyze the new codices of TWS and the books quoting the TWS during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and carefully compare the European astrology contents with the Islamic astrology ones embodied in one Chinese book. 3. Combining Chinese methods (Chinese traditional Portent Astrology and Xingming Shu) to understand the Western method. I will mainly discuss Zhang Yongzuo, Ni Ronggui and Chen Song’s astrological books, and compare them to Xue Fengzuo’s, which I studied for my dissertation.
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