Column|In China, the phenomena of the sky have been recorded for more than 6,000 years, but the burial mound of the first emperor has still not been opened.
“Too too early to say.”
This was the response of the Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai to the President of the United States to Richard Nixon in Beijing. The year was 1972.
Nixon had asked Enlai what he thought about the great French revolution – that is, the one that happened in 1789, which is familiar from school books.
At the time of the visit, less than 200 years had passed!
The phrase has been translated many times. Zhou Enlai reportedly said his opinion on the Paris riots. At that time, 1968 was already a crazy year.
That’s how it is, the sentence has survived. The saying is said to reflect the differences between Eastern and Western ways of thinking.
The Chinese apply calm waiting to graves as well.
China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi died in 210 BCE. Many in the West have seen pictures of the massive 8,000-strong Terracotta Army at the Emperor’s Tomb.
The central sanctuary of the tomb itself, the tomb pyramid, has still not been touched. It is hidden in the forest knoll.
The army was supposed to protect the Chinese Emperor’s journey towards the heavens. And the emperors were really interested in heaven. The ruler of China was a son of heaven.
It is said that the new emperor always ordered the first thing to do, that the calendars must be refined. This is what an archaeoastronomer says Marianna Ridderstad In Tähdet ja Avaruus magazine.
“
The phenomena of the sky have been recorded for more than 6,000 years.
Of course, the calendars became more precise by observing the sky. The empire of China and the emperor was the center of the world. The starry sky and its phenomena had to be adjusted to it.
In China, the phenomena of the sky have been recorded for more than 6,000 years. A supernova was recorded from the sky by the Chinese in 1054. Now in 2024, the exploded remnants of the supernova are known as Crab Nebula.
The sunspots will now strengthen until 2025 or 2026. They were first mentioned in the Chinese celestial records 28 years before the start of the Western calendar – that is, more than 1,600 years before Galileo Galilei observed sunspots among the first Europeans.
The Chinese calculated the length of the solar year accurately. They got to 365.25 days with the tools of their time. The calculation is only 11 minutes away from modern-day decimals, says Ridderstad.
Imperial a wonderful starry sky is said to be depicted on the ceiling of the tomb. What is it like?
We will know that when the tomb is opened, but when? It will probably be saved for a holiday. But in what century? Too early to tell.
The author is HS’s science editor.
#Column #emperor #China #starry #sky #tomb
