ABSTRACT
On September 1, 1644, there was an eclipse of the Sun in China. It was a time of great uncertainty, given the fall of the Ming dynasty and its replacement by the Qing, the dynasty that had recently accomplished the “Great Enterprise” of conquering China. The Qing, who would rule China into the twentieth century, were originally the leaders of a people known as Manchus, from China’s northeast, whom most Chinese would have perceived as barbarians. Like other Chinese departments of the Chinese government, the Astronomical Board, whose job it was to predict the time, extent, and duration of the eclipse, had to prove itself to its new masters. Predicting the precise time and duration was a difficult challenge. The calculations required were extremely complex and demanding.
