Scholarly Study of Hong (Rainbow) in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
VOLUME 19, 2022
The Role of Targeted Infra-popliteal Endovascular Angioplasty to Treat Diabetic Foot Ulcers Using the Angiosome Model: A Systematic Review
VOLUME 6, 2023
School of History Nanjing University 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
Abstract
This paper focuses on how Chinese intellectuals discussed and researched rainbows in late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. Many of them considered the rainbow as a phenomenon that occurred under certain conditions of sunshine and raindrops, which could be described with terms related to qi (气) of yin/yang (阴/阳). Some of them had the knowledge of duplicating rainbows by “spraying water opposite to the sun”. There were also popular conceptions that rainbow was a sign of salaciousness and rainbow could siphon water, both of which had a long history in Chinese context. Scholars also discussed other phenomena similar to rainbow such as solar halo, lunar halo, parhelion and parselene. Those discussions were not held in wider society, yet they were the sign of how Chinese intellectuals rationalized their research into natural philosophy.
Lecture in accounting. University of Basrah, College of Administration and Economics, Department of Accounting.