Guqi (鼓旗)
Guqi
Authors: Boshun YANG
Gǔ Qí (Drum Flag, 鼓旗) is a Chinese asterism consisting of nine stars located in the modern constellation Aquila. It originated no later than about 100 BCE and lies to the right of Hé Gǔ (Drum at the River, 河鼓).
Concordance, Etymology, History
Drums and Flags were instruments used by ancient armies to transmit signals and direct combat. The Sunzi bingfa (Art of War, 孫子兵法) states:
“The Military Regulations says: ‘If speech cannot be heard, use (metal) gongs and drums; if sight cannot reach, use banners and flags.’ Gongs and drums, banners and flags, are the means by which people’s eyes and ears are unified. When the troops are unified, the brave cannot advance alone and the timid cannot retreat alone—this is the method of employing the masses. Therefore, night battles rely on gongs and drums, and day battles on banners and flags, thereby transforming the soldiers’ senses.”
In the name He-Gu, Gu refers to the great war drum, while He denotes the Heavenly River (the Milky Way), indicating its position besides the Milky Way. The drum was not merely a musical instrument but a military command device and a means of encouraging morale: drums signaled attack, whereas metal gongs signaled withdrawal or defensive formation.
In Sima Qian’s Tianguan shu (Book of Heaven Officials, 天官書), only Hegu is mentioned and not the Flag, suggesting that the latter was added later. The name Gu-Qi implies a close association with Hegu, and the Shi school treated the two as a related group of asterisms. However, Guqi was renamed Youqi (Right Flag, 右旗) in later times to maintain symmetry since the Gan school introduced the asterism Zuoqi (Left Flag, 左旗).
Ancient banners differed significantly from modern ones and were divided into multiple categories. In the pre-Qin period, nine types were distinguished. The Zhōu lǐ (Rites of Zhou, 周禮) describes a system of nine banners (jiǔ qí):
(1) Cháng常 (bearing the sun and moon),
(2) Qí旂 (with intertwined dragons),
(3) Zhān旜 (plain silk banner),
(4) Wù物 (variegated silk),
(5) Qí旗 (with bears and tigers),
(6) Yú旟 (with birds),
(7) Zhào旐 (with tortoise and serpent),
(8) Suì 旞 (with full feathers),
(9) Jīng (with split feathers)
The Han dynasty system may have differed somewhat. Structurally, the “Qí旗” consisted of a pole (gān竿), the main cloth panel (shān縿), a long streamer (yóu斿) attached at the top , and a serrated fringe along the side edge. A mural in the Beiyuan Han tomb at Liaoyang, Liaoning, depicts such a banner mounted atop a tower. [1]
Identification of stars
| Star Names or Orders(Traditional/Qing) | Ho PENG YOKE[2] | Yi Shitong[3]
Based on catalogue in 18th century |
Pan Nai[4]
based on Xinyixiangfayao Star Map |
Pan Nai[5]
based on catalogues in Yuan dynasty |
SUN X. & J. Kistemaker[6]
Han Dynasty |
Boshun Yang[7]
before Tang dynasty |
Boshun Yang[7]
Song Jingyou(1034) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st/4th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 2nd/3rd | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 3rd/2nd | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 4th/1st | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
Maps (Gallery)
| historical map | modern identification
(Yang 2023) |
same in Stellarium 24.4 |
|---|---|---|
 |
Star Name Discussion (IAU)
In 202x, the name of the historical constellation "xxx" was suggested to be used for one of the stars in this constellation. ...
Decision: ...
References
- ↑ Sun Ji孙机. Handai wuzhi wenhua ziliao tushuo（xiuding ben）汉代物质文化资料图说（修订本）. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju. 2020. Pp. 187-191.
- ↑ P.-Y. Ho, “Ancient And Mediaeval Observations of Comets and Novae in Chinese Sources,” Vistas in Astronomy, 5(1962), 127-225.
- ↑ Yi Shitong伊世同. Zhongxi Duizhao Hengxing Tubiao中西对照恒星图表1950. Beijing: Science Press.1981: 56.
- ↑ Pan Nai潘鼐. Zhongguo Hengxing Guance shi中国恒星观测史[M]. Shanghai: Xuelin Pree. 1989. p226.
- ↑ Pan Nai潘鼐. Zhongguo Hengxing Guance shi中国恒星观测史[M]. Shanghai: Xuelin Pree. 2009. p443.
- ↑ Sun Xiaochun. & Kistemaker J. The Chinese sky during the Han. Leiden: Brill. 1997, Pp241-6.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 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). 261.
