Greetings! In addition to PHI 3800 Aesthetics, I teach two core courses for UCF’s Asian Studies minor program: HUM 3401 Asian Humanities and HUM 3402 East Asian Folk and Popular Culture.
For letters of recommendation, please see my faculty page for instructions. For registration related questions (pre-requisites), please email me directly at lanlan dot kuang at ucf dot edu. For general inquiries or immediate assistance, please contact philosophy@ucf.edu or call 407-823-2273.
Star Atlas, Chinese Zodiac, and the Chinese Calendars
Due to the central role of the Pole Star, Chinese astronomy differs from the ecliptic-based Chaldeo-Greek tradition by its equatorial character (Biot, 1862; de Saussure, 1930). The Han (an ethnic group) people of China could distinguish the length of days and nights in a year and decide the solar terms by measuring sun shadows at daytime and the location of seven Big Dippers (北斗星, běi dǒu xīng) at night since the ancient time. History recorded that in Spring and Autumn Period (770 B. C. - 476 B.C.), the terms "春分" (chūn fēn, the Spring Equinox), "秋分" (qiū fēn, the Autumn Equinox), "夏至" (xià zhì, the Summer Solstice) and "冬至" (dōng zhì, the Winter Solstice) had already been established, and during the period of Warring States (475 B. C. - 221 B. C.), four additional solar terms had been added. These new terms were "立春" (lì chūn, the Beginning of Spring), "立夏" (lì xià, the Beginning of Summer), "立秋" (lì qiū, the Beginning of Autumn) and "立冬" (lì dōng, the Beginning of Winter). By the times of Western Han of the Han Dynasty, 24 solar terms had already been recorded as they are today.
We could see the eighth-century representation of the stars in the constellation of Orion, as depicted on the Dunhuang Star Chart below. The fifth panel on the left shows the stars in the constellation of Orion: Betelgeuse, Rigel, Bellatrix, Saiph, plus the three stars of Orion's belt (Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka). The Chinese text names the stars.
The Chinese zodiac was based on Chinese astrology and was used as a way to count years, months, days, and hours in the calendar. The series chronicles the full zodiac cycle of lunar years observed in many Asian cultures. Each year in the repeating cycle is identified and characterized by a specific animal. A lunar year (年, nián) is from one Chinese new year to the next. A solar year (歲, suì) is either the period between one Spring Equinox and the next or the period between two winter solstices.
While fish and pork fillings are found in China’s northeastern regions, beef and lamb fillings are the standard fillings in the northwest.
A southern vegetarian version of fresh chives is shown here. Fresh chives are often mixed with shrimps in the South, and fresh fennel fronds are mixed with fried eggs in the North. 🙂
Click to read more on the Chinese Lunar New Year: UCF NEWS | Celebrating the Lunar New Year
For more on China’s North-South [gastronomic] cultural differences, check out the “Rice Theory” by Thomas Talhelm .
The Celestial Stem and the Terrestrial Branch, as shown on the sundial below, aligned with the equatorial plane. The dial will be higher in the south celestial pole and lower in the north celestial pole. The upper part of the dial is read in the summer (from the vernal equinox to the autumn equinox) and the lower part of the dial in the winter (from the autumn equinox to the vernal equinox). The equinox is defined as that point at which the sun’s path or ecliptic crosses the equatorial plane of the earth.
The sundial at the Forbidden City 紫禁城 in Beijing, in particular, symbolizes that the Emperor was the source of the standards of time. Timekeeping is an important government function in any culture. Time must be standard if it is to be of any use. In every Chinese city, the time was announced by soundings from Drum and Bell Towers 钟鼓楼. The drums would signal the changes of the guard through the night, sounding every two hours. They would muster troops at 3 in the morning. The bell would sound at dawn as it was quite a bit louder than the drums. The bell in Beijing could be heard for 20 kilometers.
The Longest Day in Chang’an (Chinese: 长安十二时辰) is a 2019 Chinese historical suspense drama that wisely constructed its storyline using an ancient Chinese timekeeping system and highlights the importance of the Drum and Bell Tower during a time of crisis.