Twenty-Eight Mansions

The Twenty-Eight Mansions is a general term for the twenty-eight groups of stars near the ecliptic. To help observe the positions of the sun, the moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn, the ancient Chinese divided the stars near the ecliptic into twenty-eight groups, which served as coordinates for observing celestial phenomena, similar to constellations in modern astronomy. The earliest known record of the complete names of the Twenty-Eight Mansions was discovered in the Tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng, unearthed in Suixian County, Hubei Province, which dates back to the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.).

The mansions are the dwelling places of the sun, the moon, and the five planets. The Twenty-Eight Mansions were divided into four sections based on their directions. The seven mansions in each section, when linked together, resemble the shape of an animal. The four animals – the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Tortoise of the North – were known as the “Four Mythological Symbols”.

The concept of the Twenty-Eight Mansions underpinned the understanding of the constellations in ancient China and constitutes an integral part of ancient Chinese astronomy. As an important symbol of traditional Chinese culture with rich and diverse cultural meanings, the concept was widely used in ancient China in areas such as astronomy, religion, literature, divination, and feng shui.

二十八宿

二十八宿是中國古代對黃道附近二十八組星象的總稱。中國古人為便于觀測日、月和金、木、水、火、土五星的方位，將黃道附近的星象劃分為二十八組，作為觀測天象的坐標，類似于現代天文學中的星座。目前已知二十八宿完整名稱的最早記載，出現在湖北隨縣出土的戰國時期曾侯乙墓中。

“宿”即日、月、五星的棲息之地。二十八宿分為四組，東、南、西、北各七宿。每個方位的七宿連綴起來與四種動物的外形相似，稱為“四象”，即東方青龍、南方朱雀、西方白虎、北方玄武。

二十八宿是中國古人關于星空劃分體系的基本知識，是中國古代天文學的重要內容。作為中國傳統文化的重要標識，二十八宿曾被廣泛應用于古代天文、宗教、文學、星占、風水等領域，具有豐富多樣的文化內涵。