The following treatise „On Chronology and the Construction of the Calendar with special regard to the Chinese computation of time compared with the European" I have originally written for the instruction of Chinese students in the Peking Tung-wen College and afterwards enlarged so that it could be useful also for those occupied with Chinese litterature and Chinese affaires.
The information on the Chinese Calendar I have mostly obtained from Chinese sources viz: Wan-nien-shu (Ten thousand year's Calendar), from Chinese Calendars for the last years, from astronomical Ephemerides of Sun, Moon and greater Planets and other publications of the Kin-tien-kien (the astronomical Board at Peking); further from Chinese star-maps of the heavenly sphere (published for instance in the great Chinese work Ta-tsin-hui-tien i.e. the dictionary of the Manchu dynasty) etc.
The comprehension of these sources has been rendered easier by the study of an excellent treative by the celebrated Chronologiste Ideler „Die Zeitrechnung der Chinesen".
The astronomical calculations are made partly from my own methodes, partly taken from other sources. The formulae for calculating the Lunar-eclipses are those, given by the astronomer Littrow, for calculating the Solar eclipses those of Gauss, communicated in the celebrated work of Professor Dr. A. Sarvitoch „Practische Astronomie"; and the formulae for calculating the places of the stars for remote times those of Professor Encke, communicated by Prof. Dr. Foerster in „Berliner Jahrbuch für 1866".
The chronological table of the Chinese dynasties and emperors has been arranged by W. Hagen Esq. of the Chinese Legation at St. Petersburg with assistance of Wang-pheng-Kiu Esq.
As it was impossible to procure types for the Chinese characters, occurring at many places of the text, I was put in the necessity, to publish this work by way of lithography, by which, to my regret, has somewhat suffered its appearance, but I hope that this circumstance will not diminish the real value of the work.
St. Petersburg, July 1886.
