ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a discussion of the methodology of this research described in this book. Although this book develops its narrative mainly by following the rise and fall of the He family, its research has identified the common patterns or distinct characteristics of other hereditary astronomer families. It has constructed some of their family histories in parallel with one another and thereby contributes to the social history of the Qing Astronomical Bureau. This chapter then summarizes the contents of the book and its contributions to the historiography of the history of astronomy in the Qing dynasty. As government bureaucrats, astronomer families strove to balance protecting their own interests with adjusting to the state’s changing demands for their specialties. It was their concern for family prosperity that drove them to become active actors in the Kangxi Calendar Dispute and the amendment of the Timely Modeling calendar in the early Qianlong reign. However, it also kept them silent when the Yongzheng emperor relied on political performance to resolve a crisis of imperial authority caused by the Astronomical Bureau’s inaccurate prediction of a solar eclipse in 1730. Finally, the period of Jinzheng’s superintendency shows that a properly implemented examination system could stimulate learning and competition between astronomer families.
