Qin and Han · Astronomer

Luoxia Hong 洛下閎

Attested BC 141 - BC 87

Passages: 5
Chapters: 5
Histories: 5

Overview

The translated histories identify Luoxia Hong as an astronomer, mathematician, scholar, and scientist. This record brings together 5 passages from 5 chapters across 5 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Luoxia Hong	洛下閎	Luoxia Hong
Given	Hong	閎	Hóng
Surname	Luoxia	洛下	Luòxià
Personal name	Luoxia Hong	洛下閎	Luoxia Hong
Personal	Luoxia Hong	落下閎	Luòxià Hóng
Personal name	Luoxia Hong	洛下閎	Luòxià Hóng
Surname		洛下	Luoxia
Given		閎	Hong

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · hanshu:068:s0258, zhoushu:004:s0094
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:272:s0029, songshi:076:s0004

Roles

Astronomer
Mathematician
Scholar
Scientist

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 太初元年 · Western Year: BC 104
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:026:s0050, shiji:026:s0059
Source Date: Text: 太初曆 · Western Year: BC 104
Explicit event contextual date · songshi:076:s0004
Source Date: Text: 漢 · Western Interval: Start: BC 206 · End: AD 220
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0029
Source Date: Text: 漢世 · Western Year: BC 104
Strongly inferred · zhoushu:004:s0094
Source Date: Text: 漢興六十餘載 · Western Interval: Start: BC 141 · End: BC 87
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:068:s0254, hanshu:068:s0258

Places and affiliations

Label: Western Han / 漢 · Relation: served
Explicit · hanshu:068:s0258
Polity: Han · Relation: served
Explicit · shiji:026:s0050
Place: Ba commandery / 巴郡
Explicit · zhoushu:004:s0094
Place: Ba / 巴
Explicit · shiji:026:s0050

Learning and skills

Skill: calendrical computation / 運算轉歷 · Level: expert
Explicit · shiji:026:s0050

Works and attributed material

Work: Taichu Calendar / 太初曆 · Relation: author
Explicit · songshi:076:s0004
Kind: prediction · Role: speaker · Quoted: true · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Speaker Person Id: Luoxia Hong (洛下閎)
Explicit · zhoushu:004:s0094

Events and relationships

Kind: calendrical · Role: calculator · Action: computed-rotating-calendar-matching-Xia
Explicit · shiji:026:s0050
Kind: scholarly · Role: maker · Action: used-armillary-for-Taichu-calendar
Explicit · songshi:076:s0004

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: calendrical reckoning (歷數) · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · hanshu:068:s0258

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Book of Han, Chapter 68Volume 58: Gongsun Hong, Bu Shi and Er Kuan · 1 passage

漢之得人，於茲為盛，儒雅則公孫弘、董仲舒、兒寬，篤行則石建、石慶，質直則汲黯、卜式，推賢則韓安國、鄭當時，定令則趙禹、張湯，文章則司馬遷、相如，滑稽則東方朔、枚皋，應對則嚴助、硃買臣，歷數則唐都、洛下閎，協律則李延年，運籌則桑弘羊，奉使則張騫、蘇武，將率則衛青、霍去病，受遺則霍光、金日磾，其餘不可勝紀。 Never did the dynasty gather talent so thickly: Hong, Dong, and Kuan for classical breadth; the Shi brothers for steadfast service; Ji An and Bu Shi for blunt loyalty; Han Anguo and Zheng Dangshi for lifting others; Zhao Yu and Zhang Tang for codifying law; Sima Qian and Xiangru for voice; jesters Dongfang Shuo and Mei Gao; debaters Yan Zhu and Zhu Maichen; calendar-makers Tang Du and Luoxia Hong; the harmonist Li Yan'nian; the reckoner Sang Hongyang; envoys Zhang Qian and Su Wu; blades Wei Qing and Huo Qubing; regents Huo Guang and Jin Midi—and a cloud of names besides.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 272Volume 272 Biographies 59: Tang Ruowang, Yang Guangxian, Nan Huai Ren · 1 passage

羲和而後，如漢洛下閎、張衡，唐李淳風、僧一行，於曆法代有損益。 Since the calendar minister Xihe, Han had Luoxia Hong and Zhang Heng, Tang had Li Chunfeng and the monk Yixing—each age revised the calendar in turn.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 26Treatise on the Calendar · 1 passage

而巴落下閎運算轉歷，然後日辰之度與夏正同。 then Luoxia Hong of Ba calculated the rotating calendar, and only afterward did the sun’s degrees and the days correspond with the Xia calendar.

History of Song, Chapter 76Volume 76 Treatises 29: Measures and Calendar 9 · 1 passage

自洛下閎造《太初曆》，用渾儀，及東漢孝和帝時，太史惟有赤道儀，歲時測候，頗有進退。 From Luoxia Hong's compilation of the Taichu Calendar with the armillary sphere down to the Eastern Han Emperor He, the Grand Astrologer's office possessed only an equatorial instrument, and its seasonal observations drifted noticeably.

Book of Zhou, Chapter 4Volume 4 Annals 4: Emperor Ming · 1 passage

昔漢世巴郡洛下閎善治歷，云後八百歲，當有聖人定之。 In Han times Luoxia Hong of Ba commandery was skilled at calendrics; he said that eight hundred years later a sage would fix the calendar.