Wang Chong on the Sun, Heaven, Stars and Rain

This article is a detailed exposition and analysis of the chapter Shuori (Explanation of [Ideas about] the Sun) of the treatise Lunheng (Balanced Discussions) by the outstanding Early Chinese thinker Wang Chong (27–102?). It examines a number of problems of an astronomical and cosmological nature, in particular the views on the shape of the heaven, the nature of the movement of the sun and moon, the mechanism of solar eclipses, mythological ideas (ten suns and creatures supposedly living on the heavenly bodies), as well as the nature of the stars and the process of rain. The exposition is accompanied by the thorough study of the sources of statements criticized by Wang Chong, and his own views on the phenomena in question, as well as correction of some errors in the English translation by A. Forke. As a result, conclusions are drawn about the high value of the chapter as a source on ancient Chinese astronomical and cosmological ideas not covered in other texts, as well as about the specificity of his ideas about the structure of the universe, in which heaven is considered to be a flat disk rotating parallel to the Earth, along which the sun and moon move in the opposite direction, creating the illusion of rising and setting as they approach to and withdraw from the observer.