Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.5, 2018

Calendar Books of the Qing Dynasty and the Formation of a Modern, Unified and Multinational China

 (Abstract)

Wang Yuanchong

Since the establishment of its domination in the principal territory of China, the Qing dynasty began to issue and carry out shixianli (a kind of calendar book, renamed “shixianshu” in the Qianlong reign), which adopted the calculating method of Western calendars, and kept doing so until it fell down. This practice was closely related to national ceremonies and the daily life of the multitudes. Ever since the first day of its issuance and enactment, the calendar books, except in the capital, were added with a list of sunrise and sunset points in each local province directly under the domination of the court and a schedule of solar terms, which was a great innovation that had never been in previous calendar books. With the expansion of the Qing dynasty, this part of the content began to have a strong political significance. During the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns, the political units of the Mongolian tribes, the Hui tribes, the tribes in Xinjian, and the large and small Jinchuan Tusi were added one by one to the list of points, reflecting the evolution of Chinese territory, the continuous integration of multiple ethnic groups, and the gradual formation of a modern unified multiethnic state in the Qing Dynasty.