Second-hand book "Autumn Stars: A Guide to the Starry Sky for the Chinese" [90% new]

Introduction · · · · · ·
★How did people in the Republic of China see the stars? This is a cross-disciplinary work by a talented professor of the Chinese Department of Fudan University, newly reviewed by Dr. Li Liang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with 100 new exquisite star maps, myths and legends + scientific explanations + artistic star maps!

◎ Editor's Recommendation:

★Once upon a time, even country folk could identify many stars. But now, the night sky has become unfamiliar to us. Facing a sky full of stars, most people can only sigh at the brilliance of the night sky.

★More than 80 years ago, Mr. Zhao Songqing, known as one of the "Eight Eccentrics of Fudan University", wrote this popular stargazing guide to help the general public understand the stars.

★Mr. Zhao was originally a professor of Chinese, with brilliant literary talent and outstanding attainments in astronomy. He integrates Western mythology with ancient Chinese legends, allowing readers to unconsciously recognize the main stars in the sky through these interesting stories, and all this only takes one night.

★Li Liang, a researcher at the Institute of the History of Natural Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, sorted out the text of the book, added notes, appendices and other content, and updated the knowledge. At the same time, he added exquisite pictures to the book, creating a fine book with excellent literary, scientific and artistic qualities, which is a new vitality for the excellent cultural heritage.

◎ Introduction:

At some point in your life, you will stop and look up at the vast starry sky above your head, and you will be curious and want to spend some time exploring it. However, facing the sky full of stars, where should you start? Although it is not difficult for us to find popular books to guide stargazing today, and we can even use more advanced technical means, we often find it difficult to generate lasting interest, and often return empty-handed.

This book may satisfy your wish and guide you to get a general idea of ​​the stars in the sky on an autumn night. More importantly, it will keep you interested. In this book, the author skillfully combines Western mythology, Chinese legends and scientific stargazing methods, and presents all 88 constellations in the sky to you in 50 beautiful short essays. Here, you will find that each star comes alive, they all have a fascinating story, and they hide countless secrets waiting for you to discover. In order to facilitate modern readers to read, we have reviewed and improved the content of the book according to the progress of modern astronomy, and selected hundreds of illustrations to further enhance its practicality. The starry sky has never lacked wonderful stories, and I hope you will have more fun in the reading process.

◎ Professional book reviews:

Although this book is written for teenagers, it integrates knowledge about constellations from China and abroad, interspersed with many mythological stories about constellations, and the writing is fluent. It is a very good introductory book, and there is no substitute for it so far.

——Bao Zhenggu, professor, editor-in-chief of the Modern Literature section of Cihai, former deputy director of Beijing Library

In just one autumn night, one can recognize most of the stars in the sky. This alone will arouse the reader's desire to read, not to mention the countless fascinating myths and legends.

——Chen Siyi, former deputy editor-in-chief and senior editor of Xinhua News Agency

A professor of Chinese with profound knowledge in astronomy tells you the story of the starry sky, making the colorful glass-like starry sky the notes dancing between your lips and teeth. This is the book that you must read in one breath.

——Li Min, member of the Chinese Astronomical Society and former secretary-general of the Jiangsu Astronomical Society

Mr. Jin Kemu, a famous writer and translator, once recalled that when he was young, he read the book called "Autumn Stars" and thought it was the best constellation book at that time. This made him have a strong interest in astronomy, which opened up a different life. I think the charm of this book is naturally inseparable from an extraordinary author (Zhao Songqing, pen name Zhao Guhuai), a Chinese teacher who is knowledgeable, proficient in poetry, and can teach in the mathematics department. Only such a person can create such a profound, vivid and poetic classic.

——Li Liang, PhD, researcher at the Institute of the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

About the Author
Zhao Guhuai (1903-1965): Born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, his real name is Zhao Songqing. He is a learned man and has used pen names such as Zhao Song, Songqing, Congxin, and Guhuai. He graduated from Fudan University and was an associate professor of the Chinese Department of Fudan University. He taught courses such as Chinese Poetry Selections of Successive Dynasties and Chinese Rhymed Prose Selections. He was good at writing lyrics and music, and was familiar with astronomy and geography. He once translated more than 500 poems from the Rubaiyat in the form of quatrains in one week. He also taught mathematics courses in the Department of Mathematics. He published astronomy papers such as "Distinguishing the Sabbath from the Sun" and "On the Super-Chen and the Three Constructions", and published popular astronomy books "Autumn Stars" and "Heavenly Pilgrimage", as well as translated "Turgenev's Short Stories".

Li Liang: PhD in History of Science and Technology at the University of Science and Technology of China, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Paris VII, visiting professor at the Paris Observatory, France, and visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and Technology in Germany. He is currently a researcher at the Institute of the History of Natural Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an editorial board member of the English journal Journal for the History of Astronomy and the Chinese journal Journal of the History of Science and Technology of China, and a member of the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has written "Research on the Datong Calendar", "Brilliant Stars: Ancient Chinese Star Maps", "Science and Technology of the Ming Dynasty", "Bronze and Ancient Technology", etc., and translated "4000 Years of Chinese Astronomical History". He has published more than 30 academic papers in Chinese and English, and presided over projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation and the National Social Science Foundation. He has published popular science works such as "Theory of Celestial Movement (Colored Edition for Children)", "Astronomical Observation: Sun, Moon and Stars", "Heavenly Territory: Stories in the Star Map", and "Constellation Stories: Entering the Poetic Starry Sky", and won awards such as "National Excellent Popular Science Works", "Excellent Popular Science Books of the Chinese Academy of Sciences", "Excellent Popular Science Books of the Beijing Association for Science and Technology", and "Excellent Popular Science Works of Anhui Province".