Under the impact of Western constellation culture, the star system originating from ancient China seems to have been stagnated and declined. Modern people can no longer use the ancient astrological nouns such as "Three Walls and Twenty-Eight Constellations" to understand the star

Astrology is an ancient and mysterious theory, and each East and the West has a complete system. Nowadays, the constellation system originating from the West has become a popular darling among young people. From the twelve constellations to their personality and fortune, it has become a powerful tool for young people to socialize.

Under the impact of Western constellation culture, the star system originating from ancient China seems to have been broken and declined. It is difficult for modern people to use the ancient astrological nouns such as "Three Walls and Twenty-Eight Constellations" to understand the starry sky above their heads.

However, as Yu Heng, deputy director of the Noun Review Committee of the Chinese Astronomical Society and doctoral supervisor at Beijing Normal University, said, the ancient star system has always influenced all aspects of our daily lives. From food, daily life, farming, fishing, hunting, building, traveling, and sacrificial festivals, we can all find traditions and customs originating from astronomy.

can be said to belong to the astronomical tradition of the Chinese, not only the interesting legends of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, the Milky Way Magpie Bridge, the Golden Crow in the Sun, and the Toad in the Moon, but also the wonder records of "the combination of sun and the moon" and " Five-Star Joint Beads ", as well as the Twenty-Eight Constellations of of Taoism, and the exquisite and mysterious Arms sphere ...

Although various convenient tools created by modern technology have kept us away from the primitive but intuitive observation methods of the ancients, we can still see the starry sky in the eyes of the ancients through ancient works of art, regain our cultural traditions, and gain a touch that transcends time and space. This is also the purpose of Professor Yu Heng and his professional youth science popularization team "Monkey Cat" editing this set of "There is a Starry Sky in the Painting".

This book selects 15 exquisite Chinese paintings. In the era of these ancient paintings, from the T-shaped silk painting unearthed from the Han tomb of Mawangdui, Changsha, the Western Han Dynasty to the picture album "Shengping Leshi Tu" in the Qing Dynasty, it spans about two thousand years. Its quality includes silk painting , murals, portrait stone , silk paintings, paper paintings, and even tapestries, etc., which are all exquisite works with style and interest. At the same time, Professor Yu also introduced modern astronomical knowledge to interpret and show us the exquisite details in ancient paintings, giving these ancient paintings a new historical and scientific meaning.

Take a Western Han Dynasty mural hidden in Xi'an Jiaotong University for example. It is an ancient Twenty-Eight Constellations . In the picture, there are two nested great circles, the sun and the moon hang side by side in the inner circle, and between the two great circles, the four symbols and twenty-eight constellations are surrounded.

The so-called " Four Symbols " is Eastern Canglong , Northern Xuanwu, Western White Tiger , and Southern Vermillion Bird . The ancients used the four major beasts of to refer to the four directions of southeast, west and north. At the same time, the ancients discovered that the moon's circulation cycle was about 28 days, so ancient astronomers divided the stars near the moon's orbit into twenty-eight groups, and each seven groups belonged to a divine beast. This is the origin of the "Twenty-Eight Constellations".

The first seven days, the moon runs in the seven constellations of the Canglong in the East, namely: horn, kang, di, room, heart, tail, and ji. Among them, " Kangsu " is the second constellation of the East, which is located at the neck of the Canglong star group in "Journey to the West".

The second seven days, the moon runs in the northern Xuanwu seven constellations, namely: Dou, cow, girl, empty, dangerous, room, and wall. If you observe the celestial phenomena at night, you will see a person holding a Doulao with Nandou Six Stars , which is Dousu. The Awkward among the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl stars is Niusu . Next is the female Suo wearing a robe and kneeling down, that is, the Vega Star. Xusu two stars and Weisu three stars are surrounded, and there is a Tengshe snake in it. The room and the walls form a quadrilateral palace, and the walls are the walls of the palace.

The third seven days, the moon runs in the seven constellations of the white tiger in the west, namely: Kui, Lou, Wei, Mao, Bi, Ju, and Shen.The Kuisu in this place is the Kuimulang who has been in love with the princess of Baoxiang for thirteen years in "Journey to the West". Pleiades is the famous Pleiades Star Official . He once helped Sun Wukong capture scorpion spirit . His mother Vilanpo Bodhisattva became even more powerful. He used a small embroidery needle to get rid of the centipede spirit that made Sun Wukong helpless.

On the fourth seventh day, the moon runs in the southern Zhuque seven constellations, namely: well, ghost, Liu, Xing, Zhang, Yi, and Zhen. The square one is Jingsu . In " Water Margin ", there is a hero who is nicknamed this constellation - Jingmufeng Hao Siwen.

There is a two-person sedan after Jingsu, which is Guisu . The Vermilion Bird spreads its wings and soars, and the four constellations of willows, stars, Zhangs and wings surround it. Finally, the Zhenconilion is located between the Vermilion Bird and the Canglong .

is like this. After twenty-eight days of running, the moon returns to the eastern Canglong Koala, ready to start the next cycle. The twenty-eight star priests also perform their duties and protect the peace and harmony of the world.

There are many other ancient astronomical knowledge in this book. For example, the author tells us the legend of the Six Stars of the South Dipper and the Seven Stars of the North Dipper through a Eastern Han Dynasty hidden in the Han Painting Museum in Nanyang. The ancients believed that the North Dipper was the carriage of the Emperor of Heaven, while the South Dipper was the starting part of the northern Xuanwu. These two Dous have a special status independent of the twenty-eight constellations. There has always been a saying among the people that "the South Dipper is the birth, and the North Dipper is the death". Therefore, on the murals in ancient tombs, the patterns of the South Dipper and the North Dipper are often seen.

For example, in a portrait of the Five Dynasties collected by the Palace Museum, the author tells us about a past of political game. It turns out that the chess game in the painting does not exist in reality at all, it is a picture of the Big Dipper. The ancients believed that the Big Dipper symbolized the throne, so the painter appeared to have painted a picture of the palace fun of Li Jing, the main part of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but in fact, it hid the order of inheritance between the Li brothers.

The end of this political game is that Li Jing's eldest son Li Hongji poisoned his uncle Li Jingsui, but he died of fear. In the end, his younger brother Li Yu ascended the throne.

In short, the stories and knowledge in this book can help young readers better understand the historical background and cultural connotation of these works. In addition to aesthetic interests, young people can also see the serious and realistic details in the paintings. Only by seeing the creative minds of ancestors from these details can they truly see the exquisiteness of the paintings, so as to see the depth and broadcast of Chinese traditional culture, and truly inherit the cultural beauty of our Chinese!