Solar eclipses, especially total solar eclipses, are eye-catching celestial events. As early as 3,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese people had made records on such astronomic phenomena.

A long time ago, people noticed that the sun and moon sometimes suddenly lost their brightness. People could not figure out the reason and feared that, once gone, the brightness would not return and would mean the end of the world. Precisely because of this, the ancient Chinese began to observe solar and lunar eclipses, recording the time and size of the eclipse, and searching for the causes of eclipses.

The earliest solar eclipse record that can be verified appears in The Classic of History (Shang Shu), about an eclipse during the Xia Dynasty (about 21-16th century BC).

Excavated bone and tortoise shell inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty (16-11th century BC) record five solar eclipses that took place during between the 14th and 12th centuries BC.

By the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), records on solar eclipse were no longer limited to the time of an eclipse, but also covered the sun's position, the starting and ending times of eclipses, and the coverage size.

During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-446BC), there were 37 solar eclipse records, among which 33 have been proven to be reliable. By the time of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the total number of records had reached 1,000; this number represents the world's most complete solar eclipse record, which is of great value to the astronomic research.

Author: Jessie