Long before the Greek constellations reached China, the sky here was mapped as an imperial court — an emperor, his family and ministers, each a small group of stars called a star official (星官).
Where Western astronomy is built on the ecliptic and its zodiac, the Chinese sky is equatorial and pole-centred: the unmoving north pole is the throne, and the whole sky wheels around it.
Why twenty-eight? The Moon circles the stars in about 27.3 days, resting each night against a new patch of sky — a 宿 xiù, a “lodge”. Rounded off, that gives 28 stations, one per night.
Why four animals? The 28 lodges group into four sevens, one per direction and season, each tracing a beast: the Azure Dragon of spring in the east, the Vermilion Bird of summer in the south, the White Tiger of autumn in the west, the Black Tortoise of winter in the north.
早在希臘星座傳入之前，中國先民已把天空繪成一座天上的朝廷——有天子、宗室與百官，每一組星各成一個星官。
西方天文以黃道與十二宮為本；中國星空則以赤道與北極為中心：不動的北極即帝座，眾星環繞而行。
為何二十八？月亮約二十七日餘繞天一周，每夜宿於一方天區，故稱宿——即「旅舍」。取其整數，遂分二十八宿，一夜一宿。
為何四象？二十八宿每七宿為一組，配一方一季，連綴成獸：東方蒼龍主春，南方朱雀主夏，西方白虎主秋，北方玄武主冬。
Tap an animal to light up its quarter across the wheel, the map and the table.點一象，可在星盤、星圖與星表中一併highlight其七宿。
← swipe the strip sideways →← 左右滑動 →
| # | Sym象 | Mansion宿 | Marker star距星 | Meaning主司 | Stars星數 |
|---|
Pick any mansion to see its full star official drawn over the real stars.選一宿，觀其星官全貌與對應實星。
Beyond the ecliptic belt of the 28 mansions lie three great walled “cities” of the northern sky. Tap one to light it up on the pole-map and read its story — with the same Chinese ↔ Western star names.二十八宿沿黃道成帶，北天更有三座「城垣」。點一垣，觀其於北天星圖之位、讀其故事——並附中文 ↔ 西名對照。
The plotted asterisms — the 28 mansions and the Three Enclosures 三垣 — show member stars to about magnitude 5 (Jurong's practical city-sky limit) at Hipparcos J2000 positions, with line links from the Stellarium Chinese sky culture. The star roster and the paired Chinese ↔ Western star names follow the Hong Kong Space Museum bilingual list (via Wikipedia's List of Chinese star names; after Yi Shitong 1981 and Chen Meidong 1996); cultural notes after Sun Xiaochun & Jacob Kistemaker, The Chinese Sky During the Han.所繪星官——二十八宿與三垣——繪至約五等（市區裕廊夜空之實際目視極限），星位採依巴谷 J2000，連線依 Stellarium 中國星官。星表與中文 ↔ 西名對照據香港太空館中西星名對照（見維基《List of Chinese star names》；本於伊世同 1981、陳美東 1996）；釋義參 Sun Xiaochun & Jacob Kistemaker《The Chinese Sky During the Han》。