Part 1
The Taichu Reform: When China Rebuilt Its Calendar
In 104 BC, a historian and an astronomer from Sichuan won a competition to redesign how China measured time. The conventions they established still govern the Chinese calendar today.
6-Part Series
The Court Historian's Art
How astronomy, record-keeping, and divination became one tradition — and how Six Lines inherits it.
Part 2
The Grand Historian's Other Job: Divination at the Imperial Court
The title 太史 didn't mean "historian" the way we use the word today. It meant astronomer, calendar-keeper, omen-reader, and archivist — all at once, all the same job.
Part 3
Meng Xi, Jing Fang, and the Hexagram Calendar
Shortly after the Taichu reform, two I-Ching scholars mapped all 64 hexagrams onto the calendar year. The system they built is what Six Lines uses for its daily hexagram.
Part 4
The Xieji Bianfang Shu: An Emperor's Attempt to End Almanac Chaos
By the 18th century, China's almanac traditions had splintered into contradictory regional systems. Emperor Qianlong ordered the most rigorous editorial project in the history of Chinese date selection.
Part 5
Shao Yong's Cosmic Clock: When Hexagrams Measured Centuries
A Song dynasty systems thinker mapped hexagrams not to days but to years, centuries, and epochs — then built a practical 60-year cycle that still tells you which hexagram governs 2026.
Part 6
From Star to Calendar to App: Why Six Lines Exists
Six Lines inherits a 2,100-year lineage where observing the heavens, organizing time, and interpreting patterns have always been one discipline.