Ma Zhongji (馬重績) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Ma Zhongji as an astronomer, diviner, and official. This record brings together 8 passages from 3 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Ma Zhongji	馬重績	Ma Zhongji
Courtesy	Dongwei	洞微	Dongwei
Personal name	Ma Chongji	馬重績	Mǎ Zhòngjì
Personal	Ma Chongji	馬重績	Ma Chongji
Personal name	Ma Zhongji	馬重績	Ma Zhongji
Given	Zhongji	重績	Zhongji

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:096:s0160
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · jiuwudaishi:140:s0020, liaoshi:042:s0230

Roles

Astronomer
Diviner
Official

Life and dates

Death

Age: 64
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:096:s0174

Age

Age: 64 · Reckoning: sui
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:096:s0174

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 天福三年 · Western Year: AD 938
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:096:s0163
Source Date: Text: 晉天福四年 · Western Year: AD 939
Explicit · liaoshi:042:s0230
Source Date: Text: 晉祖肇位 · Western Year: AD 936
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:140:s0020

Career and standing

Label: calendar-maker / 造曆
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:140:s0020
Label: Director of the Astronomy Bureau / 司天監 · Action: held · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 晉祖肇位 · Western Year: AD 936
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:140:s0020
Label: Director of Astronomy / 司天監 · Action: held
Explicit · liaoshi:042:s0230
Label: Director of the Astronomy Bureau / 司天監 · Action: held
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:096:s0162

Places and affiliations

Label: Later Jin / 晉 · Relation: served
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:140:s0020
Place: Taiyuan / 太原 · Relation: resided-at
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:096:s0161

Learning and skills

Skill: numerology and calendrics / 數術曆法 · Level: expert
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:096:s0161

Works and attributed material

Work: Calendar for Adjusting the Origin / 調元曆 · Relation: author
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:096:s0169
Work: Tiaoyuan Calendar / 調元曆 · Relation: author
Strongly inferred · jiuwudaishi:140:s0020, jiuwudaishi:140:s0028, jiuwudaishi:140:s0032
Work: Tiaoyuan Calendar / 調元曆 · Relation: author
Explicit · liaoshi:042:s0230
Work: Yiwei Origin Calendar / 乙未元曆 · Relation: author
Explicit · liaoshi:042:s0230
Kind: memorial · Role: author · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 晉祖肇位 · Western Year: AD 936
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:140:s0020, jiuwudaishi:140:s0021, jiuwudaishi:140:s0022, jiuwudaishi:140:s0023, jiuwudaishi:140:s0024, jiuwudaishi:140:s0025, jiuwudaishi:140:s0026
Kind: memorial · Role: author · Note: clepsydra reform
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:096:s0171, jiuwudaishi:096:s0172
Kind: memorial · Role: author
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:096:s0163, jiuwudaishi:096:s0164, jiuwudaishi:096:s0165, jiuwudaishi:096:s0166, jiuwudaishi:096:s0167

Events and relationships

Kind: scholarly · Role: presenter · Action: presented-calendar · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 晉天福四年 · Western Year: AD 939
Explicit · liaoshi:042:s0230
Kind: scholarly · Role: author · Action: presented-new-calendar · Other Person Id: Jin Gaozu (晉高祖) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 晉祖肇位 · Western Year: AD 936
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:140:s0020, jiuwudaishi:140:s0026
Relation: served · Person Id: Jin Gaozu (晉高祖)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:140:s0020

References in the histories

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

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 96Volume 96 Book of Later Jin 22: Biographies 11: Kong Chongbi, Chen Baoji, Wang Yu, Zhang Jizuo, Zhen Ruan, Hu Rao, Liu Suiqing, Fang Gao, Meng Chenghui, Liu Jixun, Zheng Shouyi, Cheng Xun, Li Yu, Zheng Xuansu, Ma Zhongji, Chen Xuan · 6 passages

Open chapter

馬重績，字洞微。 Ma Zhongji, styled Dongwei.

天福三年，重績上言：「歷象，王者所以正一氣之元，宣萬邦之命，而古今所記，考審多差。 In the third Tianfu year Zhongji memorialized, "Calendars and celestial observations are how kings set the origin of cosmic order and proclaim the mandate to all states, yet records ancient and modern, when examined closely, contain many errors.

詔下司天監趙仁琦、張文皓等考核得失，仁琦等言：「明年庚子正月朔，用重績歷考之，皆合無舛。」 The court ordered Zhao Renqi, Zhang Wenhao, and others at the astronomy bureau to review it. They reported, "On the new year's day of the coming gengzi year, Zhongji's calendar matches observation in every respect."

重績又言：「漏刻之法，以中星考晝夜為一百刻，八刻六十分刻之二十為一時，時以四刻十分為正，此自古所用也。 Zhongji also argued, "The clepsydra method divides day and night into one hundred marks by observing culmination stars; eight marks plus twenty sixtieths make one double-hour, with the fourth mark and ten parts as the standard—this is the ancient practice.

重績卒年六十四。 Zhongji died at sixty-four.

至如重績之曆法，陳元之醫道，亦不可漏其名而弗紀也。 As for Zhongji's calendrical science and Chen Yuan's medical art, their names too must not be omitted from the record.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 140Volume 140: Treatises 2 Calendars · 1 passage

Open chapter

及晉祖肇位，司天監馬重績始造新曆，奉表上之，云：「臣聞為國者，正一氣之元，宣萬邦之命，爰資曆以立章程。 When the Jin founder ascended the throne, Ma Chongji of the Directorate of Astronomy devised a new calendar and presented a memorial, writing: "I have heard that to rule a state is to fix the origin of cosmic breath and proclaim the mandate of all peoples—and for this one must rely on the calendar to set the standards of government.

History of Liao, Chapter 42Volume 42 Treatises 12: Celestial Phenomena 1 · 1 passage

Open chapter

晉天福四年，司天監馬重績奏上《乙未元曆》，號《調元曆》，太宗所收天汴是也。 In Later Jin Tianfu year 4 (939), Director of Astronomy Ma Chongji presented the Yiwei Origin Calendar, titled the Tiaoyuan Calendar—the calendar Taizong had taken from Bianjing.