洪仁玕与太平天国历法的“改订”

Hong Ren'gan and the "Improvement" of the Calendar of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

洪仁玕阐述了太平天国颁行天历主要有"醒愚俗"、"定民志"、"正农时"三个目的。针对天历不合天象、有失农时的缺陷,洪仁玕对天历作了一次较大的"改订":一是改订"岁实",二是欲制定一标准物候历来"裁定耕种"。洪仁玕对天历的"改订"是不成功的。

Hong Ren＇gan expounded the aims of the calendar of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as “en- lightening the public”, “establishing a clear goal for the mass”, and “adjusting farming seasons”. Aiming at the calendar＇s mismatch with the climate that resulted in peasants＇ missing the farming sea-son, Hong Ren＇gan attempted to improve the calendar by altering the measure of tropical year and composing a calendar based on phenology. However, his “improvement” turned out to be a failure.