作者：马伟华

题目：崇祯改历期间西法所报交食时刻再辨析

发表刊物：《中国科技史杂志》 (Chinese journal for the history of science and technology) 36.4 [no. 149] (Dec. 2015), pp. 453-464.

Abstract (p. 464): “This paper argues that the Western astronomical methods, employed in the Chongzhen Calendar Reform, always used the 100 units of chronometry. The ancients used the 100 units of chronometry in calculating the length of eclipses, but ignored the small units, which led to a misunderstanding that the Western astronomical methods made use of the 96 units of chronometry in the Chongzhen Calendar Reform. When Li Tianjing administered the Bureau of Western Astronomical Methods, the accuracy of the eclipse predictions and observations were in decline. Moreover, the observations of eclipses were affected by the weather and which instruments were used. The paper also discusses some misunderstanding of the Chongzhen Calendar Reform, and presents some conclusions. First, the Chongzhen Calendar Reform was not carried out because the Western astronomical methods produced better predictions of eclipses than Chinese astronomical methods. Second, accuracy was not the goal of those who took part in the calendar reform, and they held to a loose criterion of accuracy.

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Krahe, Cinta, Chinese Porcelain in Habsburg Spain, Madrid, Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica, 2016 (March). First edition. Quarto, Hardcover, 586 Pages, 345 colour illustrations. Publishers’ description: “ [...] Together with lacquered objects and exotica, porcelain circulated throughout the Spanish Empire, passing through the Americas, but until now there had been no record of the pieces that reached the Spanish market. However, Krahe reconstructs the journey of this porcelain ware from southern China, analysing what it was like, how it was displayed and stored, to what uses it was put and how it was valued in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain. [...]