The Past and Present of the Almanac

Name: The Past and Present of the Almanac
ISBN: 9787532581771

何重建Shanghai Classics Publishing House · ChinaAug 2019

3.8

Word count: 35K words
Chapters: 25
ISBN: 9787532581771

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Summary

With the huangli market in chaos and different almanacs giving conflicting auspicious-day readings, do you find yourself at a loss? With self-styled masters everywhere, are you afraid of being taken in? In fact, in ancient China people worked out their own auspicious dates from the almanac. This book lifts the veil and offers an in-depth analysis, so you can read the huangli with real understanding and truly grasp this divination culture rooted in traditional Chinese philosophical and astronomical concepts.

Editor's review

With rigorous scholarship and plain, fluent prose, The Almanac: Past and Present lifts the veil on the huangli—an almanac that has shaped Chinese social life for centuries yet is often misunderstood. Rather than dismissing it as "folk custom" or "superstition," He Chongjian places it within the grand framework of Chinese civilization, tracing its evolution from ancient astronomical observation and calendar-making to its gradual absorption of yin-yang and Five Elements cosmology and the arts of choosing auspicious days and avoiding misfortune. The book's value lies in restoring a text that is "used daily but not understood" to its rightful place as a unique window onto ancient Chinese astronomy, calendrics, philosophy, social psychology, and even political culture. In this editor's view, its greatest appeal is its twofold effort at "disenchantment" and "interpretation": on one hand, it uses historical-textual methods to clarify the origins and original meanings of much of the almanac's content; on the other, it seeks to understand how the huangli could span millennia and still, to some degree, shape the behavior and time-consciousness of some Chinese people today. Its analysis of the logic behind "suitable" and "unsuitable" activities, and its comparison of official and folk editions across dynasties, testify to deep documentary mastery and original cultural insight. For readers who wish to go beyond curiosity and understand this traditional knowledge system from the perspective of cultural history, this book offers a solid, reliable, and highly illuminating reading experience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with a strong interest in traditional Chinese culture and the history of folk customs
Learners who want a systematic understanding of traditional calendrics and the origins and evolution of auspicious-day culture
Professionals in history, anthropology, or related fields seeking reference material
General readers with a rational curiosity about traditional cultural phenomena still visible in daily life

Not a good fit for

Pragmatists hoping for a simple modern almanac to look up good and bad days directly
Readers seeking mystical or esoteric interpretation who are not interested in rigorous historical inquiry

Reading tips

Read the first two chapters first to build a broad picture of the almanac's historical development, then go deeper into the topical chapters that interest you.
As you read, use the excerpts from historical documents and the charts to see how ancient astronomy and philosophy were concretely translated into the almanac's entries.
Read alongside works on modern and contemporary Chinese social change to deepen your understanding of how traditional knowledge systems have fared in modern society.

About the publisher

Shanghai Classics Publishing House China · Founded in 1956

Shanghai Classics Publishing House is a professional publisher centered on the collation of ancient texts and academic research works. Its publishing areas cover historical readings, classical poetry, folk literature, literary appreciation, canonical works, and Eastern philosophy. Its books include Chen Yinke's A Brief Discussion of the Origins of the Sui and Tang Institutions, Xin Qiji's Chronological Annotated Edition of Jiaxuan's Ci (Simplified Edition), Tang Xianzu's The Peony Pavilion, Liu Xie's The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, as well as New Annotations to Three Hundred Tang Poems (Collector's Edition), Annotated Edition of Han Changli's Collected Works (Simplified Edition, 3 volumes), and Youyang Zazu. Its authors include Chen Yinke, Xin Qiji, Tang Xianzu, Liu Xie, Deng Guangming, Hengtang Tuishi, Han Yu, and Ma Qichang. In terms of publishing characteristics, the house emphasizes collation, annotation, and compilation of ancient texts alongside academic research works, and continues to issue simplified and collector's editions that balance scholarship and accessibility. Public information about the publisher's fuller publishing profile is limited.

版权信息
前言
第一章黄历的前世
第一节古代天学和术数
第二节孕育时期：“五帝”时代至春秋战国
第三节成长期：秦汉至唐宋
第四节成祖期：元至清
第五节挫折期：历史上的“历狱”
第二章黄历择吉和术数文化
第一节黄历择吉在术数文化中的位置
第二节《钦定协纪辨方书》和“正五行”择日
第三节黄历择吉的具体内容
第三章择日的元素和方法
第一节 “正五行”择日的原则和步骤
第二节生辰参数和时空参数
第三节五行、天干与地支
第四节择吉宜、忌神煞
第五节从神煞倒推日课
第四章造葬择日
第一节造葬择日的基本元素
第二节 “补龙”、“扶山”、“相主”
第五章黄历的今生
第一节当今黄历习俗在民间的状况
第二节思考和展望
参考书目及文献

FAQ

Is this a book about fortune-telling?

Not at all. Its core is a historical and cultural examination of the huangli (imperial almanac) as a text—its origins, development, contents, and social influence. It focuses on explaining why the almanac arose, what it contains, and why it became popular, not on teaching readers how to use it for divination or choosing dates.

What is He Chongjian's background? Are his views credible?

He Chongjian is a senior editor at Shanghai Classics Publishing House, long engaged in the collation of classical texts and publishing on traditional culture, with solid philological training. Published by Shanghai Classics Publishing House, the book is richly documented and rigorously argued; it is a work of academic popularization whose views fall within the scholarly consensus on textual criticism and historical research, and it is highly credible.

Does this book have a Douban rating? How is it reviewed?

The book does have a rating on Douban Books (the exact score may change; at the time of checking it was about 7.5). Most readers find it well documented and clearly organized, successfully elevating a folk-custom topic to the level of cultural history; many say they gained a great deal, making it an excellent introduction and a step further for anyone interested in almanac culture.

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About the author

何重建 Author

He Jianzhong is an author who writes on traditional culture. Public information about him is limited: details such as his place of origin, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly recorded, so a full account of his life cannot yet be given. According to the library's holdings, he has only one work to his name, The Past and Present of the Chinese Almanac, which is classified under culture. The book takes the almanac, a calendar widely used in everyday folk life, as its subject, tracing its origins and development and touching on its relationship with traditional calendrical systems and folk customs. A topic of this kind requires some grounding in calendrical knowledge and folk culture, and the writing tends to address general readers, turning specialized knowledge into readable narrative rather than dense academic inquiry. Because his output is small, He Jianzhong's public profile is relatively modest, and his influence as a writer is mainly confined to readers interested in this subject; a fuller assessment must await more material.