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Ancient Chinese Astronomy, Chinese Classics III, [5]p.92, [6]p.93

According to the interpretation of the document, the equinoxes were in
Taurus (Pleiades) and Scorpio, and the solstices were in Leo and
Aquarius in the time of Yaou. No doubt there was a tradition to this
effect at the time when the Shoo-king was compiled, for the author
knowing nothing of the precession of the equinoxes, could not have
adjusted them to the time of which he was writing. His "examination of
antiquity" was so far accurate, although the details of his narrative
may and even must be mythical. Even Yaou himself may be so. In
accordance with Chinese ideas of a sage, Yaou in a few pompous
sentences makes it appear that he is perfectly acquaited before hand
with the results of the observations which he orders his astronomers
to make: -- "You will find the star is in neuon," &c. But did they
find the stars as Yaou said they would find them? We are supposed to
believe that they did, of course; but since we are not told, we claim
the liberty to doubt. Suppose, for the sake of argument, that Yaou,
before the observation were made, was dependent on tradition for his
knowledge, ant that his astronomers were capable of making accurate
observations, they would in that case have had to report some failure
in the the verification of his statements. But apart from this, we are
prepared to affirm that three of the men sent to the four borders of
China could not have seen the stars, which occupied for the time being
the equinoctial and solistical points, culminating on the evenings
named. E.G., the first point of Libra could not be seen culminating at
nightfall, when the sun is in the first point of Cancer, for it must
culminate at 6h. P.M., whereas the sun would not set in any part of
China in midsummer much before 7h. P.M., and the stars would not be
visible for half an hour after sunset. This last fact would stand
equally in the way, at the equinoxes, of the observers' seeing their
stars culminating, unless, indeed, the time of observation was several
centuries later than the date usually assigned to Yaou (B.C. 2356 -
2255), so that the stars to be observed had ceased to be exactly in
the solistial colure. The astronomer who went to the north in winter
is the only one who would have no difficulty of this kind. He might
see his star long before it culminated. But unless he had a good
clock, he could not tell that it culminated at 6h. P.M. In the course
of the long winter evening he would lose his reckoning sadly. The
clepsydra also, supposing that he had one, might be ice-bound. The
observation could have been made more conveniently in every way at the
central station than at the northern border.

The value of the astronomical part of the Canon of Yaou, as a
confirmation of the received chronology, has been much overrated.
According to the obvious interpretation of the text, Yaou had reason
to expect the stars he mentioned to be in the equinoctial and
solistial colures. But what his reason was we are left to conjecture.
It might be a personal observation; or it might be tradition form his
great-grandfather, or from Noah himself.

Scorpio, the Ho of Yaou, was considered, even to the end of the Chow
dynasty, an important guide to the knowledge of the seasons, as is
evident from the frequent references to it in the writings of that
time. An ode in the Book of Poetry, attributed to Chow-kunk, begins
with the words, "In the seventh month Ho passes on," -- that is to
say, passes on to the westward of the meridian at nightfall. From
which it would follow that in the sixth month it was in the meridian
at the same hour. This would have been the case if the seventh month
had coincided with ours, or with the end of July and part of August,
but not if the year had commenced with our December, as the Chinese
say the year of the Chow dynasty always did. Here therefore is an
argument against the prevailing opinion, which there are other strong
reasons for setting aside, that king Woo, when he became emperor,
ordered that the year should begin before the winter solstice, while
the first month was still absurdly styled the first of spring. The
fact is, the months the the year fell into this great disorder
afterwards, through neglect, and not on account of an important
decree. It is probable, however, that even in Chow-kung's time the
first month of the year was the last of the winter season, the error
of one month passing down from the previous dynasty. As early as B.C.
775, we find the year beginning with our December; and 50 years after,
it begins with our January again.

The passage in the Tso Chuen, in which Confucious is mde to say that
in the 12th month of the year, Scorpio was still visible in the west
is not intelligible, for the sun must have passed through Scorpio in
October, and the 12th month was certainly not our September.

References

1. http://www.google.com/help/features.html#cached
2. http://sunnyokanagan.com/joshua/legg92.html
3. http://sunnyokanagan.com/joshua/legg92.html
4. http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:7AyUebmjQAUJ:sunnyokanagan.com/joshua/legg92.html+astronomy+ancient+china&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&strip=1
5. http://sunnyokanagan.com/joshua/legg92.gif
6. http://sunnyokanagan.com/joshua/legg93.gif