Chinese astronomy in a world context

Abstract This brief paper aims to indicate what the study of Chinese astronomy can add to our understanding of premodern astronomy in the wider world. Some aspects of Chinese astronomy enable us to perceive the interestingly contingent nature of much of what is often taken for granted about the way astronomy was done elsewhere, particularly in the premodern West. Two examples of East-West contact in astronomy are examined: exchanges with India, particularly in the Sui and Tang dynasties in the 7th and 8th centuries of the Common Era and contacts with astronomy from the 13 th century CE Islamicate world. Finally the issue of the sphericity of the Earth is considered in a comparative context.