Traditional Chinese star names

Traditional Chinese star names (Chinese: , xīng míng) are the names of stars used in ancient Chinese astronomy and astrology, whence they influenced Chinese religion, mythology, folklore, and the geomantic practice of feng shui. The names appear extensively in Chinese culture, including literature, historiography, and opera. These traditional names sometimes differ from modern names influenced by the official designations of the International Astronomical Union. For those stars whose catalog designation employ English names, Chinese astronomers use traditional Chinese names.

Chinese astronomy was advanced in classical times and, being located further south, had noted five times as many stars as were described by Ptolemy. In 1875, Gustav Schlegel made a complete survey of the star names which appeared in ancient works. His Uranographie Chinoise correlated 760 star names with those used in western astronomy.

Ancient Chinese astronomers designated names to the visible stars systematically, roughly more than a thousand years before Johann Bayer did it in a similar way. Basically, every star is assigned to an asterism. Then a number is given to the individual stars in this asterism. Therefore, a star is designated as "Asterism name" + "Number". The numbering of the stars is not based on the apparent magnitude of this star, but rather its position in the asterism and this numbering sometimes changed over the course of Chinese history.

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