The History of Chinese Meteorology

China’s meteorological history, from ancient times to modern times to contemporary science, has its own culture and regional characteristics. China’s ancient meteorological achievements from the earliest Chinese civilization to the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 ad) basically took the lead in the world. The Taosi Ancient Observatory in Shanxi Province in the 21st century bc was the earliest observatory found in the world. Meteorological information has been found in the oracle bone inscriptions of Shang Dynasty ruins from more than 3,000 years ago. Poems describing weather phenomena date from the Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 bc). By the Spring and Autumn and Warring States (770–221 bc) periods, the 24 solar terms had formed. From the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 bc–220 ad), the scope of meteorological observation continuously deepened and expanded, meteorological instruments were created and applied in observing celestial phenomena, and theoretical discussion on atmospheric phenomena arose. A number of classical books containing rich meteorological knowledge and thoughts, such as Guanzi(《管子》)and Dream Pool Essays known as Mengxi Bi Tan(《梦溪笔谈》), were published; and many famous scholars who also are regarded as meteorologists, including Guan Zhong (管仲), Dong Zhongshu (董仲舒), and Shen Kuo (沈括) emerged. Unfortunately, from the late Qing Dynasty (1616–1911 ad), China’s meteorological technology fell behind for a variety of reasons. Modern meteorological history in China began with the introduction of Western meteorology in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 ad) and runs to the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. During this period, the development of meteorology in China was closely associated with Western missionaries and military aggression. In the late Qing Dynasty, meteorological agencies or observing sites were successively built by France, Britain, Germany, Japan, and Russia to serve these countries’ needs in China, but they did promote the introduction of advanced Western meteorological science and technology in China. After the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Jiang Bingran (蒋丙然), Zhu Kezhen (竺可桢), and other Chinese meteorologists began to devote themselves to the science. The Central Observatory, Meteorological Institute, and Chinese Meteorological Society were established during this period, and meteorology education began in China as well. Meteorological agencies and weather stations were set up in various places to conduct weather observation and forecasting, scientific research, and personnel training. Since 1949, Chinese meteorology has entered what can be referred to as the contemporary stage. Much progress has been made, especially in the development of meteorological science research, numerical weather prediction, observation systems, automatic weather stations, meteorological satellite, and so forth; many of these achievements built on historical and modern meteorological sciences. Thus, studying China’s meteorological history is of great significance for contemporary and future meteorological developments.