The Futian Calendar and Yusi Scripture: The Introduction of Foreign Astrology into China in the Tang Dynasty and Its Influence

: This article examines the transmission and influence of Tang-period foreign astrology in China through two representative texts: the Futian Calendar ( Futian li 符天历 ) and the Yusi Scripture ( Yusi jing 聿斯经 ). The Tang and Song official and private bibliographies, which record numerous works belonging to the Futian system and the Yusi system, indicate that, after the Futian Calendar and the Yusi Scripture were introduced into China in the Jianzhong and Zhenyuan eras, respectively, they were widely disseminated through the practices and manipulations of folk diviners. An analysis of the surviving scattered records that reflect the contents of these two texts suggests that the Futian Calendar and the Yusi Scripture represent two sides of the same coin in the foreign astrology introduced to China: the Futian Calendar supplied the mathematical methods for calculating planetary positions for the fortune-telling aspect of astrology, which is mathematically demanding, while the Yusi Scripture provided the rules for astrological calculations, predicting an individual’s fate based on the configuration of celestial bodies in the ecliptic at the time of the person’s birth as determined by the Futian Calendar . The Yusi Scripture likely underwent multiple translations, reintroductions, and localizations, transforming the practice from predicting fate based on the seven luminaries to doing so with the eleven luminaries. The Tang-period foreign astrology represented by the Futian Calendar and the Yusi Scripture exerted