SIDE BY SIDE
Compare mantic systems
Read systems against shared questions to identify common language, procedural differences and distinct limits.
| Dimension | 择日与选择术 ↗ | 风角、云气与物候杂占 ↗ |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Date selection and almanac traditions | Celestial omens and signs |
| Inputs | Activity, almanac edition, prohibitions and priority order | Direction, time, weather description and traditional judgment |
| Procedural structure | The calendrical day and seasonal month are established, then layered with officers, daily rulers, clashes, directions and activity rules. Layers may conflict, requiring explicit source, priorities and local convention. | Time, direction, color, sound and duration were recorded and matched to omen statements through phases, directions, offices, armies or topics. Some rules may preserve weather experience; others are symbolic analogies. |
| Formation | Mature in Warring States-Qin-Han daybooks; continued in almanacs to the present | Pre-imperial precedents; extensive manuals from Qin-Han through Tang |
| Evidence labels | Excavated evidence · Textually documented | Excavated evidence · Textually documented |
| Texts | Shuihudi Qin daybooks / Fangmatan Qin daybooks / Dunhuang calendrical selection manuscripts / Imperially Commissioned Xieji Bianfang Shu | Yisi Zhan / Kaiyuan Zhanjing / Dunhuang cloud and bird-call manuals / Qin-Han daybooks |
| Limits | Twelve Officers, auspicious-day labels and marriage, construction or burial selection are overlapping modules. Regional calendars and manuals can conflict; there is no universal absolute auspicious-date table. | Practical meteorology and auspicious interpretation must be analyzed separately. Animal behavior cannot be treated as portent without ecology, season and observational bias. |
| Research question | What priority does a text specify when rules conflict? | Can different observers describe the same phenomenon consistently? |