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The ten Heavenly Stems (or Celestial Stems) are a system of ordinals indigenous to China and used throughout East Asia, first attested c. 1250 BCE during the Shang dynasty as the names of the ten days of the week. They were also used in Shang-era rituals in the names of dead family members, who were offered sacrifices on the corresponding day ...
Solar calendars were used before the Zhou dynasty period, along with the basic sexagenary system. One version of the solar calendar is the five-elements calendar (五行曆; 五行历; wǔxíng lì), which derives from the Wu Xing. A 365-day year was divided into five phases of 73 days, with each phase corresponding to a Day 1 Wu Xing element.
The four phases of the Erlitou culture have been divided between the Xia and Shang dynasties in different ways by various prominent archaeologists. [37] The project assigned all four phases to the Xia, identifying the establishment of the Shang dynasty with the building of the Yanshi walled city 6 km (3.7 mi) north-east of the Erlitou site. [38]
Unlike the Xia, the Shang dynasty's historicity is firmly established, due to written records on divination objects known as Oracle bones. The oldest such oracle bones date to the Late Shang (c. 1250—1046 BCE), during the reign of Wu Ding (1250–1192), putting the exact details of earlier rulers into doubt. [43] [44]
The system of "xiu" (宿, lit."mansion") that played an important role in ancient astronomy also appeared during his reign. [40] It is commonly thought that the earliest examples of calendrical use also appeared along with astronomy. The Shang calendar, which served to organize days, appeared from the start of literacy.
However, the most detailed incorporation of Indian astronomy occurred only during the Tang dynasty (618–907), when a number of Chinese scholars—such as Yi Xing—were versed in both types of astronomy. A system of Indian astronomy was recorded in China as Jiuzhi-li (718 CE), the author of which was an Indian by the name of Qutan Xida. [25]
The ten Heavenly Stems provided names for the days of the week during the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1050 BC). The Branches are at least as old as the Stems, with archaeological evidence suggesting they may actually be older. There are several theories about the origin of the Earthly Branches prior to the advent of the historical record.
Tai Geng (Chinese: 太庚) or Da Geng, personal name Zi Bian (子辨), was a king of the Shang dynasty of ancient China. In the Records of the Grand Historian he was listed by Sima Qian as the sixth Shang king, succeeding his brother Wo Ding (小辛). He was enthroned with Bo (亳) as his capital.