Picture: Chinese Astronomy. Chinese Star Chart possibly dating from the 600s AD, Tang Dynasty
One cannot not link to history, archaeology, historical management, museum management without linking to science and development, that includes the developments of astronomy in Ancient China. One of my lecturers, Cai Da Feng from Fudan University, Shanghai, was interested in Astronomy. He is a busy man, but always find time to play around his hobby.
Chinese astronomers, like Roman and Sassanian astronomers of the same time period in Europe and West Asia, were very interested in the stars both for scientific reasons and because they believed that the skies could help predict the future.
One of these Chinese astronomers drew this star chart, which is the oldest one in the world. Even though telescopes and binoculars hadn't been invented yet, the chart shows some very faint stars that are very hard to see with just your eyes.
But along with this chart, there were also instructions for predicting the future based on the shape of clouds.
For more information on Chinese Astronomy, you can visit the link here: Chinese astronomy
