Chinese religion: Two Heavens

With so much excitement, it is no wonder that astronomy is of great importance to China. By looking at the skies in order to measure time and plan social events, the Chinese eventually developed their first astronomical research institution, Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. What used to be a practice reserved for farmers and academics is now a hobby to be enjoyed by all.

The Chinese have been calculating horoscopes and positions of celestial bodies since the Xia (夏) dynasty (23-17c B.C.). According to the “Canon of Yao” in the Book of Documents (书经 Shujing), a king ordered his brothers Xi (羲) and Hé (和) “to conform themselves to august heaven, to calculate and plot the sun, the moon, the stars and the celestial bodies and respectfully to submit a calendar for humankind.”

In any case, science played a role, too, because of China’s many farmers. They looked to the skies to determine agricultural and social patterns. There were many terms describing heaven (天 tiān), including its motions/cycles (历象 lìxiāng) and objects in the sky (heavenly bodies, 天文 tiānwén). The Xia created a calendar (夏小正 xiăozhēng) and called measuring the calendar lìfă (历法).

Two branches of “heaven” study soon emerged: astronomy and astrology. Both disciplines influenced themes in Chinese philosophy, such as the Uniformity of Heaven and Man (天人合一 tiānrén héyī) and the Sympathy between Heaven and Man (天人感应 tiānrén gănyìng).