Zhou Cong (周琮) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Zhou Cong as an astronomer, official, scholar, and scientist. This record brings together 6 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Zhou Cong	周琮	Zhou Cong
Given	Cong	琮	Cóng
Alternate name	Cong	琮	Cóng
Surname	Zhou	周	Zhōu
Personal name	Zhou Cong	周琮	Zhōu Cóng

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · songshi:073:s0225, songshi:076:s0011

Roles

Astronomer
Official
Scholar
Scientist
Writer

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 皇祐元年 · Regnal Year: 1 · Western Year: AD 1049
Explicit event contextual date · songshi:076:s0070, songshi:076:s0072
Source Date: Text: 七年 · Western Year: AD 1029
Explicit event contextual date · songshi:073:s0225, songshi:073:s0224, songshi:073:s0222
Source Date: Text: 皇祐初 · Western Year: AD 1049
Explicit · songshi:076:s0011, songshi:076:s0049, songshi:076:s0066

Career and standing

Label: calendar official / 曆官
Strongly inferred · songshi:073:s0225, songshi:073:s0226
Label: solar official / 日官
Explicit · songshi:076:s0011

Places and affiliations

Polity: Song / 宋 · Relation: served
Strongly inferred · songshi:073:s0225
Polity: Song / 宋 · Relation: served
Explicit · songshi:076:s0011

Learning and skills

Skill: lunar and Saturn computational method / 月、土術 · Level: approved
Explicit · songshi:073:s0226

Works and attributed material

Work: New Book of Yue Terrace Gnomon Shadows / 岳台晷景新書 · Relation: author
Explicit · songshi:076:s0068
Work: Chongtian Calendar / 崇天曆 · Relation: contributor
Explicit · songshi:073:s0226
Kind: judgment · Role: speaker · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Source Person Id: Zhou Cong (周琮)
Explicit · songshi:076:s0070
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Quoted: true · Provenance: Mode: quotation · Speaker Person Id: Zhou Cong (周琮)
Explicit · songshi:073:s0225

Events and relationships

Kind: calendar-verification · Role: critic-and-verifier · Action: argued-calendar-imprecise-and-sought-comparative-verification · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 七年 · Western Year: AD 1029
Explicit event contextual date · songshi:073:s0225, songshi:073:s0226, songshi:073:s0224, songshi:073:s0222
Kind: scholarly · Role: maker · Action: rebuilt-clepsydra · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 皇祐初 · Western Year: AD 1049
Explicit · songshi:076:s0049
Kind: scholarly · Role: maker · Action: rebuilt-gnomon-table · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 皇祐初 · Western Year: AD 1049
Explicit · songshi:076:s0066
Kind: scholarly · Role: maker · Action: recast-ecliptic-armillary-and-clepsydra-gnomon · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 皇祐初 · Western Year: AD 1049
Explicit · songshi:076:s0011
Relation: collaborator-of · Person Id: Yang Hao (楊皞)
Explicit · songshi:073:s0226
Relation: collaborator-of · Person Id: Yu Yuan (於淵)
Explicit · songshi:073:s0226

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: judged the finished calendar method not yet precise · About: Chongtian Calendar / 崇天曆 · Provenance: Mode: quotation · Speaker Person Id: Zhou Cong (周琮)
Explicit · songshi:073:s0225
Assessment: measurements-closer-than-Wang-Pu-Qintian · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Source Person Id: Zhou Cong (周琮)
Explicit · songshi:076:s0070

References in the histories

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

History of Song, Chapter 73Volume 73 Treatises 26: Measures and Calendar 6 · 2 passages

Open chapter

時周琮言：「古之造曆，必使千百年間星度交食，若應繩准，今曆成而不驗，則曆法為未密。」 At the time Zhou Cong said: "Ancient calendar-makers made star positions and eclipses over a thousand years align like a plumb line; now the calendar is finished yet fails verification, so the calendar method is not yet precise."

又有楊皞、於淵者，與琮求較驗，而皞術於木為得，淵于金為得，琮於月、土為得，詔增入《崇天曆》，其改用率數如後： Yang Hao and Yu Yuan also joined Cong in seeking comparative verification; Hao's method proved correct for Jupiter, Yuan's for Venus, and Cong's for the Moon and Saturn. An edict ordered these incorporated into the Chongtian Calendar. The revised rate constants are as follows:

History of Song, Chapter 76Volume 76 Treatises 29: Measures and Calendar 9 · 4 passages

Open chapter

皇祐初，又命日官舒易簡、于淵、周琮等參用淳風、令瓚之制，改鑄黃道渾儀，又為漏刻、圭表，詔翰林學士錢明逸詳其法，內侍麥允言總其工。 Early in the Huangyou era, the court again ordered the solar officials Shu Yijian, Yu Yuan, and Zhou Cong to draw on the designs of Li Chunfeng and Liang Lingzan, recast an ecliptic armillary sphere, and also build clepsydra graduations and a gnomon table; Hanlin Academician Qian Mingyi was directed to work out the methods, and Inner Attendant Mai Yunyan to supervise construction.

皇祐初，詔舒易簡、于淵、周琮更造，其法用平水重壺均調水勢，使無遲疾。 Early in Huangyou, an edict directed Shu Yijian, Yu Yuan, and Zhou Cong to rebuild the clock; their method used a leveling weighted jar to steady the flow and eliminate uneven dripping.

皇祐初，詔周琮、于淵、舒易簡改制之，乃考古法，立八尺銅表，厚二寸，博四寸，下連石圭一丈三尺，以盡冬至景長之數，面有雙水溝為平准，於溝雙刻尺寸分數，又刻二十四氣岳台晷景所得尺寸，置於司天監。 Early in Huangyou, Zhou Cong, Yu Yuan, and Shu Yijian were ordered to rebuild it; studying ancient methods, they erected an eight-chi bronze gnomon two cun thick and four cun wide, joined to a stone platform one zhang three chi long to capture the full winter-solstice shadow, with twin water channels on the face for leveling and graduated inches, cun, and fen on both sides, plus the twenty-four solar terms' shadow lengths measured at Yue Terrace; the instrument was installed at the Directorate of Astronomy.

琮以謂二十四氣所得尺寸，比顯德《欽天曆》王樸算為密。 Zhou Cong held that the shadow dimensions obtained for the twenty-four solar terms agreed more closely with Wang Pu's figures in the Xiande Qintian Calendar than earlier reckonings had.