RESEARCH ON PORITICAL PROGNOSTICATIONS BASED ON THE APPEARANCE OF METEORS AND COMETS IN ANCIENT CHINA

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This research is based on the records of the prognostications generated from the records of the observations on comets and meteors. It supplements a series of researches that have revealed the relations of ancient Chinese astronomy and the politics of the prognostications. It tends to illustrate that ancient Chinese prognostication stimulated the development of the politics and the society, and reevaluate the realistic significance of Dong Zhongshu's "Zai-yi theory" in the history of ancient Chinese social theories.In ancient China, the appearance and disappearance of comets and meteors were the main concerns in the persistent agitation caused by the irregular movements of the Five Planets. Ancient rulers could not help paying special attention on such astronomical phenomenon because at that time, it was believed that there existed an interaction between the nature and human society and the Heaven showed on the sky its reactions to the politic of the human world. This is also coinciden … More t with the fact that astronomy was developed as national astrology rather than as a scientific field in ancient China.It is commonly acknowledged that "Zai-yi theory", advocated by Dong Zhongshu as the antithesis of Confucianism which had been legitimized as the national religion, has imposed great impacts on Chinese society since Han. However, "Zai-yi theory" could not have been fully believed and widely adopted in society only with its literature. Understanding the literature of a theory does not necessarily lead to the recognition of thistheory. For the rulers, a theory could not attract them until it could make plausible connection between and provide convincing explanations of the mysterious astronomical phenomenon and the political and social events in the real world.However, at the end of the East Han, while "Chen-wei theory" was flourishing and "Zai-yi theory" was losing its original critical spirit, new prognostications on the appearance of comets and meteors carried on the critical spirit of "Zai-yi theory". It served as an alarm bell for human society, just as how the "prognostications" attending the Five Planets had functioned. Less