What is the material?
Received edition, excavated manuscript, object, oral account, paper and modern manual support different claims.
LResearch library · source navigator
Sources and bibliography
Primary-text leads, subject literature, historical material and public research resources. Each source retains its related dossier and context for search, comparison and citation.
34dossiers58external research entries48core terms
01Four research routes
Find sources by research question
One name may belong at once to method, history, text and social practice. These four routes interconnect, but answer different questions.
01 · Identify a system
Atlas
Check names, aliases, pinyin, family, principles, formation, texts and debates.
Enter 34 dossiers02 · Trace a chronologyHistory of Chinese mantic arts
Use bones, manuscripts, institutions, print and modern scholarship to distinguish types of evidence.
Open the timeline03 · Clarify a conceptBilingual glossary
Search cross-system terms such as image, number, yin-yang, Five Phases, stems-branches, Nine Palaces and Najia.
Search the glossary04 · Conduct researchMethods and project frameworks
Move from source layers and textual criticism to algorithm reconstruction and empirical inquiry.
View research methods02Layered reading
Three depths of reading
The library separates public orientation, specialist study and independent research. You may move quickly, but should not skip checks of terminology, period and source type.
- 01
Public orientation
Read atlas summaries, the historical overview and glossary definitions to establish names, periods and families.
For first encounters with Chinese mantic arts - 02
Specialist study
Enter a dossier's principles, texts, evidence limits and related systems; record differences among editions and lineages.
For learners with a defined field - 03
Independent research
Return to primary texts, catalogues, archaeology and institutional databases; publish citations, procedures and uncertainties.
For papers, translation, reconstruction and digital projects
03Evaluating sources
Six dimensions of source evaluation
An institutional page may offer only an introduction; a lineage manuscript may preserve a valuable lead. Evaluation asks exactly what a source can establish, regardless of institutional or lineage status.
How is it dated?
Separate the date claimed in a text, the surviving edition, attribution and the date of modern cataloguing.
Can the passage be located?
Record chapter, fascicle, page, edition, collection number or a stable link whenever possible.
Tradition or research conclusion?
Layer lineage interpretation, cultural narrative, historical claim and modern validation.
Can the procedure be reproduced?
Charts and calculations require inputs, rules, calendar conventions and intermediate steps.
Are the limits explicit?
Cases do not generalize automatically; mantic content does not replace medical, legal or financial advice.
04Source catalogue
Public source catalogue
These links are the sources already annotated in dossiers and the history: museums, universities, research institutes, academic publishers and digital text projects. External content and availability remain under the responsible institution.
Current context · 太乙
太乙金鏡式經（四庫全書本）· 提要與序
The Siku abstract and preface of Taiyi Jinjing Shijing record attribution, ten-juan structure, a later-addition observation and editorial criticism.
- Responsibility
- Work attributed to Wang Ximing of the Tang; abstract by Siku editors; Wikisource transcription
- Identifier / locator
- 提要 / 太乙金鏡式經序
- Year and version
- Online transcription of the Siku edition; ten juan; no folio collation completed
Reading and citation notes
- Locating the evidence
- The abstract's opening attributes authorship to Wang Ximing of the Tang and notes a calculation reaching the Song's Jingyou first year. Its closing critique and the separate preface have distinct argumentative roles.
- Scope and limitations
- This online transcription was not collated against images in this review. A Qing editorial observation does not date every passage. Links to volumes one, two and four locate the same transmitted edition, not independent witnesses.
Note reviewed
太乙金鏡式經（四庫全書本）· 卷一
Volume one covers epoch counts, cycle divisions, Taiyi and Tianmu placement, and monthly, daily and hourly methods.
- Responsibility
- Attributed to Wang Ximing of the Tang; Wikisource transcription; the abstract notes later additions
- Identifier / locator
- 卷一 · 推上元積年 / 積太乙所在法 / 推天目所在法
- Year and version
- Online transcription, not collated folio by folio against a physical witness
Related reading太乙
Reading and citation notes
- Locating the evidence
- Locate the epoch, Taiyi-position and Tianmu-position headings and the separate time-scale procedures. The later Kaiyuan-12 statement gives 1,937,281; the relevant reduction chain uses 360, 72 and 24.
- Scope and limitations
- Counting origin, exclusion conventions and exact-division cases require dedicated checking; the text includes gaps and differing counts. Reproducing explicit arithmetic does not establish a modern calendar converter.
Note reviewed
太乙金鏡式經（四庫全書本）· 卷二
Volume two describes three-year palace residence, exclusion of the centre, Taiyi palace numbers, gates and sixteen named stations.
- Responsibility
- Attributed to Wang Ximing of the Tang; Wikisource transcription
- Identifier / locator
- 卷二 · 推太乙所在法 / 推九宮所主法 / 推十六神所主法
- Year and version
- Siku-edition transcription; positions and names located by section
Related reading太乙
Reading and citation notes
- Locating the evidence
- Use the Taiyi-placement heading for residence, the Nine-Palace heading for Qian 1 through Xun 9, and the Sixteen-Agents heading for branch and corner names.
- Scope and limitations
- The diagram is an editorial teaching reconstruction, not an artefact replica. Political and disaster interpretations remain historical claims; reproducing positions does not validate them.
Note reviewed
太乙金鏡式經（四庫全書本）· 卷四
Volume four defines host and guest through scenario, precedence and response; the adjacent passage treats mutual restriction.
- Responsibility
- Attributed to Wang Ximing of the Tang; Wikisource transcription
- Identifier / locator
- 卷四 · 推主客 / 推主客相闗法
- Year and version
- Online Siku-edition transcription; no variant-edition collation completed
Related reading太乙
Reading and citation notes
- Locating the evidence
- Locate the field-array and settled-position conditions under host and guest, and the Gaochong/Taicu and Yinzhu/Dizhu examples under mutual restriction.
- Scope and limitations
- These are internal textual rules and interpretations. They support textual analysis here, not a complete military-divination system or advice for real conflict.
Note reviewed
太乙金鏡式經 · 故庫018063–018064
Catalogue metadata for the Palace Museum's Taiyi Jinjing Shijing: 故庫018063–018064, two volumes of the Wenyuan Pavilion Siku copy from the Qianlong period.
- Responsibility
- Catalogue attribution: Wang Ximing of the Tang; Digital Archives union-catalogue record
- Identifier / locator
- 故庫018063–018064 · 排架號3133
- Holding institution
- National Palace Museum, Taipei
- Year and version
- Qianlong-period Wenyuan Pavilion Siku manuscript copy; two thread-bound volumes
Reading and citation notes
- Locating the evidence
- Consult identification for the accession and shelf location 3133, description for edition, format for two volumes and management for the National Palace Museum.
- Scope and limitations
- This review uses the union catalogue. Its original-resource link now opens the museum search homepage; item images were not examined. Keep attributed dynasty, copying period and web citation dates distinct.
Note reviewed
RIS export retains filtered results and verified bibliographic fields. Translators and holding institutions remain notes; manuscript dating is not a publication year. Unverified fields stay blank.
05Citation record
Elements of a citation record
When pages, editions or interpretations change, a clear record lets you and later readers retrace the same evidentiary path.
- 01Author or responsible institution
- 02Title and document type
- 03Edition, fascicle or collection number
- 04Stable URL and access date
- 05Page number for the cited passage
- 06Your inference separated from the source