SIDE BY SIDE
Compare mantic systems
Read systems against shared questions to identify common language, procedural differences and distinct limits.
| Dimension | 国家星占与天象占候 ↗ | 分野占 ↗ |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Celestial omens and signs | Celestial omens and signs |
| Inputs | Chronology, observation, textual locator and omen commentary | Celestial region, place names, administrative period and table |
| Procedural structure | Observers recorded time, direction, color, duration and motion, then linked the event through star offices, terrestrial fields, phases and inherited omen statements to rulers, war, disaster or harvest. | An event was located by star office or celestial station and then assigned to its terrestrial field. Mappings changed with administrative geography, state genealogies, terrain and inherited schemes. |
| Formation | Early records in Shang-Zhou; systematized in Warring States-Han and long institutionalized | Gradual systematization from pre-imperial through Han |
| Evidence labels | Excavated evidence · Textually documented | Textually documented · Contested lineage or date |
| Texts | Records of the Grand Historian, Treatise on Celestial Offices / Book of Han, Treatise on Astronomy / Yisi Zhan / Kaiyuan Zhanjing / Mawangdui Wuxing Zhan | Shiji, Treatise on Celestial Offices / Book of Han, Treatise on Astronomy / Astronomical treatises in dynastic histories |
| Limits | Historical observations have value for the history of science, but their political prognostications are not thereby validated by modern astronomy. Observation and interpretation must be separated. | Historical field tables conflict; they are not fixed astronomical-geographic coordinates, and modern maps cannot recover a single original scheme. |
| Research question | Where does observable description end and political interpretation begin? | Does one place name identify the same territory in different periods? |