Astronomical Tables in the“Lü-li zhi”:On the Characteristics and Adoption of“Licheng”Pick-up Tables

This article discusses the development of astronomical tables in ancient China based on the calendrical chapter titled“Lü-li zhi”律曆志(Monograph on harmonics and calendrical astronomy)in official histories.After surveying various types of astral scientific tables in ancient China and their layouts,this paper discusses the characteristics and adoption of“licheng”立成tables,a specific kind of pick-up table that seems to have come into use in the Sui period(581–618)and to have been widespread from the Tang period(618–907)onward.The emergence of licheng tables relates largely to the internal development of ancient Chinese astronomy,but they were also probably inspired by auspicial tables and foreign astronomical tables.By comparing tables recorded in the“Lü-li zhi”and the existing licheng tables,we find that most licheng were deleted during the compilation of“Lü-li zhi”to reduce the number of volumes.Moreover,this paper discusses several common solutions used to compress the size of tables in“Lü-li zhi.”The adoption of licheng tables into the ancient Chinese astral sciences and the reformatting of them in“Lü-li zhi”give us a different perspective for understanding the development of ancient Chinese astronomical tables and the compilation of the calendrical portion of official histories.