科学、政治与自然现象:晚清社会对1881-1882年彗星的反应

Science,Politics and Natural Phenomenon:Reaction of the Late Qing Society to the Great Comet of 1881 and 1882

19世纪80年代,中国出现数颗彗星,其中以C/1881K1和C/1882R1最为显著。中国官方机构钦天监、同文馆和民间天算爱好者对其进行了大量观测与记录。文章细致梳理了官方及民间对两颗彗星的观测与应对,发现彗星行度变化的计算及其所蕴含的星占意义始终是备受关注的重点,并且观测者们关注异常天象的目的与其身份及兴趣有密切的联系。尽管星占的力量在清末仍未消退,西方天文学的观测仪器和方法却开始在民间知识分子中得以使用和普及,同时存在一定程度上的科学交流,这表明西学在中国的传播确实收到了相当的成效。

Several comets appeared in China between 1881 and 1882, of which the Great Comet of 1881（C/1881 K1）and the Great September Comet（C/1882 R1）were the most significant ones. Some Chinese official agencies, such as the astronomical bureau Qintian Jian and the government school Tongwen Guan, and some amateur astronomers observed and recorded them. Those observations and reactions to the two comets are clarified in this paper based on which, the concern of Chinese intellectuals on the calculation and prediction of the comet and the cometary divination are discussed. Although the power of astrology still existed in the late Qing Dynasty, Chinese intellectuals had already adopted western astronomical instruments and methods, and a certain degree of scientific exchanges had began to appear at the same time, which meant that the spread of Western learning had achieved considerable success in China.