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{{DISPLAYTITLE: Tianlin (天廩)}} 

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----Tianlin (Celestial Foodstuffs, 天廩; Tiān Lǐn) is a four-star asterism of the Shi tradition in Chinese astronomy, formed during the Han period. It lies south of Mao (昴) in modern Taurus and is assigned to Wei (胃) in the Butian ge (步天歌). Its name denotes a royal granary storing grain for sacrifice. 

== Concordance, Etymology, History ==

=== Formation in the Shi tradition ===
Drawing on the dates inferred for the observations underlying the Shi 石 star catalogue and on its relationship to the “Treatise on the Celestial Offices” (''Tianguan shu'' 天官書) in the ''Shiji'' 史記, Yang Boshun places the broad formation of the Shi asterism system around the Taichu 太初 era of the Western Han. The treatise assigns the oversight of granaries to the lodge Wei 胃 and refers collectively to the stars south of it as ''Cangji'' 倉積, “stored grain.” The Shi tradition distinguishes several related asterisms in this region, each with a specified number of stars, including Tiancang 天倉, Tianlin 天廩, and Tianqun 天囷. The contrast reflects the gradual differentiation of grain-storage asterisms during the Han. <ref>Yang Boshun 楊伯順, ''Zhongguo chuantong hengxing guance jingdu ji xingguan yanbian yanjiu'' 中國傳統恆星觀測精度及星官演變研究 (A Research on the Accuracy of Chinese Traditional Star Observation and the Evolution of Constellations), PhD thesis (Hefei: University of Science and Technology of China, 2023),124-125.</ref>

=== Granaries and other grain-storage facilities ===
[[File:Official granary in Helingeer Han tomb mural, plate 28.jpg|thumb|Official granary in Helingeer Han tomb mural]]
The word ''lin'' 廩 originally denoted a place for storing grain. Ancient Chinese sources distinguish several kinds of grain-storage facility, including ''cang'' 倉, ''lin'' 廩, ''qun'' 囷, ''jing'' 京, and ''yu'' 庾. Drawing on pictorial representations from the Han and Jin periods, early dictionaries, and traditional commentaries, Ma Yi examines the forms of these facilities and the ways in which grain was stored in them.<ref>Ma Yi 馬怡, “Jiandu shidai de canglin tu: liangcang, liangqi yu jiandu — cong Han-Jin huaxiang suo jian liangshi chuna changjing shuoqi” 簡牘時代的倉廩圖：糧倉、量器與簡牘——從漢晉畫像所見糧食出納場景說起, in ''Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Lishi Yanjiusuo xuekan'' 中國社會科學院歷史研究所學刊, vol. 7 (Beijing: Commercial Press, 2011), 163–197; definitions of cang, lin, qun, jing, yu and kuai at 168–170.</ref>
[[File:Granary tower, Han dynasty, Metropolitan Museum of Art (13.100.11).jpg|thumb|Granary tower, Han dynasty, Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
''Cang'' was both a general term for a grain store and the name of a particular type of building. The ''Shuowen jiezi'' 說文解字 defines it as a place for storing grain and explains that the component 口 depicts the shape of a granary, suggesting a square plan. The words ''cang'' and ''lin'' often occur together in the compound ''canglin'' 倉廩. Commentators also distinguished them by what they held. In his commentary on the “Enriching the State” chapter of the ''Xunzi'' 荀子, Yang Liang 楊倞 writes that a ''cang'' holds unhulled grain, while a ''lin'' holds grain that has been hulled by pounding. The word ''lin'' was also written with the older graph 㐭. The ''Shuowen'' explains that its component 回 depicts a building with doors and windows, a description that suggests a square structure with openings. Such openings may have helped ventilate the store and reduce dampness, since hulled grain was more susceptible to mould than grain with its husk intact.

A ''qun'' was a round granary. The ''Shuowen'' defines it as a round ''lin'',  and contrasts the round ''qun'' with the square ''jing''. Yan Shigu 顏師古 makes the same distinction in his commentary on the ''Jijiu pian'' 急就篇. A ''jing'' was generally a tall structure. Both Juanshe 卷舌 and Daling 大陵 are attested under the alternative name Jijing 積京. Their proximity to Wei suggests a possible connection with the grain-storage imagery surrounding that lodge. A ''yu'' was an open-air grain store, a facility represented in the Gan 甘 tradition by the asterism Tianyu 天庾.

=== Sacrificial grain, grain accounts, and rewards for service ===
One of Tianlin’s principal functions was to store grain for sacrifice. In its account of the fourteenth year of Duke Huan 桓公, the ''Chunqiu Gongyang zhuan'' 春秋公羊傳 records a fire in the ruler’s granary (''yulin'' 御廩) and explains that this was where grain for sacrificial offerings was kept. The astronomical treatise of the ''Jin shu'' 晉書 likewise says that Tianlin “presides over the storage of ''shu'' 黍 and ''ji'' 稷 millet for sacrificial offerings” and identifies it as the celestial counterpart of the ruler’s granary mentioned in the ''Chunqiu'' 春秋. The ''Sui shu'' 隋書 and ''Song shi'' 宋史 preserve this interpretation. The ''Tianwen daxiang fu'' 天文大象賦 pictures Tianlin preparing ''ji'' millet in the hope that the spirits will partake of it. The ''Taiping yulan'' 太平御覽, quoting the ''Shi shi xing jing'' 石氏星經, says that the grain stored in Tianlin supplied both sacrificial offerings and the ruler’s table.

Granary administration also involved measuring, accounting for, and distributing grain. According to the ''Zhouli'' 周禮, the granary official (''linren'' 廩人) kept track of the quantities of the nine grains and supplied grain for state distributions, regular provisions, assemblies of the lords, military campaigns, and major sacrifices. The ''Kaiyuan zhanjing'' 開元占經 quotes Wu Xian 巫咸 as assigning Tianlin responsibility for “grain storage and accounting” and gives a further interpretation in which officials receive stipends from their ruler. The ''Song shi'' adds that Tianlin “presides over rewards for meritorious service and oversees the accounts of the nine grains,” placing the allocation of rewards alongside the accounting of grain stocks. 

=== Grain reserves and harvests in omen interpretation ===
Omen texts interpreted the brightness, apparent fullness, and positions of Tianlin’s stars as signs of the state of grain reserves and the prospects for the harvest. Bright stars and a full-looking configuration signified ample stores. Faint, scattered, or displaced stars could portend depleted reserves or disruptions in their management. Close approaches by other celestial bodies could likewise portend famine, empty granaries, rising millet prices, the flight of people facing starvation, or even war.

=== Identification of stars ===
According to previous researches,  the identification of Tianlin has been always stable.
{| class="wikitable"
!Star Names or Orders(Qing)
!Han Dynasty (SUN X. & J. Kistemaker<ref>Sun Xiaochun. & Kistemaker J. ''The Chinese sky during the Han''. Leiden: Brill. 1997, Pp241-6.</ref>)
!3rd to 6th Century (Boshun Yang<ref name=":12">B.-S. Yang杨伯顺, ''Zhongguo Chuantong Hengxing Guance Jingdu ji Xingguan Yanbian Yanjiu'' 中国传统恒星观测精度及星官演变研究 (A Research on the Accuracy of Chinese Traditional Star Observation and the Evolution of Constellations), PhD thesis, (Hefei: University of Science and Technology of China, 2023), Pp297-304.</ref>)
!Song Dynaty (Boshun Yang<ref name=":12" />,  1034 CE)
!Song Dynasty (Pan Nai<ref name=":02">Pan Nai潘鼐. ''Zhongguo Hengxing Guance shi''中国恒星观测史[M]. Shanghai: Xuelin Pree. 1989, Pp220-226.</ref>, 1052 CE)
!Song Dynasty (Boshun Yang<ref name=":12" />, 1052 CE)
!Yuan Dynasty (Pan Nai<ref>Pan Nai潘鼐. ''Zhongguo Hengxing Guance shi''中国恒星观测史[M]. Shanghai: Xuelin Pree. 2009. p435-443.</ref>, 14th century)
!Qing Dynaty (Yi Shitong<ref>Yi Shitong伊世同. ''Zhongxi Duizhao Hengxing Tubiao''中西对照恒星图表1950. Beijing: Science Press.1981.</ref>, 18th Century)
!Ho PENG YOKE<ref>P.-Y. Ho, “Ancient And Mediaeval Observations of Comets and Novae in Chinese Sources,” ''Vistas in Astronomy'', 5(1962), 127-225.</ref>
|-
|1st
| valign="top" |5 Tau (f Tau)
| valign="top" |5 Tau (f Tau)
| valign="top" |5 Tau (f Tau)
| valign="top" |5 Tau (f Tau)
| valign="top" |5 Tau (f Tau)
| valign="top" |5 Tau (f Tau)
| valign="top" |5 Tau (f Tau) (determinative)
| valign="top" |5 Tau (f Tau) 
|-
|2nd
| valign="top" |4 Tau (s Tau)
| valign="top" |4 Tau (s Tau)
| valign="top" |4 Tau (s Tau)
| valign="top" |4 Tau (s Tau)
| valign="top" |4 Tau (s Tau)
| valign="top" |4 Tau (s Tau)
| valign="top" |4 Tau (s Tau)
| valign="top" |4 Tau (s Tau)
|-
|3rd
| valign="top" |ξ Tau (2 Tau)
| valign="top" |ξ Tau (2 Tau)
| valign="top" |ξ Tau (2 Tau)
| valign="top" |ξ Tau (2 Tau)
| valign="top" |ξ Tau (2 Tau)
| valign="top" |ξ Tau (2 Tau)
| valign="top" |ξ Tau (2 Tau)
| valign="top" |ξ Tau (2 Tau)
|-
|4th
| valign="top" |ο Tau (1 Tau) (determinative)
| valign="top" |ο Tau (1 Tau) (determinative)
| valign="top" |ο Tau (1 Tau) (determinative)
| valign="top" |ο Tau (1 Tau) (determinative)
| valign="top" |ο Tau (1 Tau) (determinative)
| valign="top" |ο Tau (1 Tau)
| valign="top" |ο Tau (1 Tau)
| valign="top" |ο Tau (1 Tau)
|}

=== Maps (Gallery) ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!historical map
!modern identification
!same in Stellarium
|-
|[[File:Tianlin in Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido.jpg|thumb|Tianlin in ''Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido'']]
|[[File:Tianlin in Yuan dynasty(1360s) reconstructed by Boshun Yang.jpg|thumb|Tianlin in Yuan dynasty(1360s) reconstructed by Boshun Yang]]
|[[File:Tianlin in Stellarium.png|thumb|'''Tianlin in Stellarium''']]
|}


== IAU Working Group on Star Names ==
In 2026, the name of the historical constellation "Tianlin" was suggested to be used for ο Tau  in this constellation for it has been the oldest determinative star. ...

Decision: ... 

==References ==
[[References (Chinese)]]


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[[Category: Tau]]