Introduction

This chapter begins with the story of an imperial astronomer who, instead of accepting a higher position at a different Institution, attempted to convince the emperor to allow him to remain in his post. He did so by presenting his family members’ long records of serving at the Astronomical Bureau but concealed their Christian belief. This story exemplifies some of the Qing Astronomical Bureau officials’ distinct characteristics that historians have hardly touched on but will be explored in this book. Although the running of the Astronomical Bureau was taken over by the Jesuits in the beginning of the Qing dynasty, its post-holders, as in the Ming era, were largely drawn from a limited number of astronomer families. This book investigates the implications of this for the functioning of the Astronomical Bureau and will present a social history of the Qing Astronomical Bureau from the perspective of hereditary astronomer families. To achieve these aims, this book uses records from online and published archives relating to lower-ranking officials of the central government, such as the résumés written for imperial audiences and personnel administration records. This chapter ends with a plan of the book that gives a chapter-by-chapter outline.