ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the Kangxi Calendar Dispute (1664–1669) impacted the organization of the Astronomical Bureau and the demography of the hereditary astronomer families. After temporarily returning to the Great Concordance system of calendar making between 1665 and 1668, which was then referred to as the Old Method, the Qing court reinstalled the New Western Method and Jesuit astronomers to the Astronomical Bureau. However, as this chapter reveals, the Jesuits never regained the same controlling power over the Astronomical Bureau that Schall once had. The supporters of the Old Method remained in the Astronomical Bureau. As such, He Luoshu and his son He Junxi, two leading supporters of the Old Method, were able to keep their high offices gained during the dispute, thus laying the foundation for their descendants to grow into the most influential hereditary family in the Qing Astronomical Bureau.
