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Huang Shang
Southern Song scholar-official who drew the astronomical chart and map later carved in stone at Suzhou to teach the future Emperor Ningzong
On an observatory terrace at night, a large bronze armillary sphere stands on a stone base while two people stand with their backs turned facing the view; stars are joined into constellation lines overhead, and a sundial and tiered dripping water vessels stand at the right.
Also known as Zi Wenshu · Hao Jianshan · Posthumous name Zhongwen
Huang Shang, courtesy name Wenshu and sobriquet Jianshan, came from Pucheng in Longqing prefecture, Sichuan, and passed the jinshi examination in 1169. Under Emperor Guangzong he tutored Zhao Kuo, Prince of Jia and the future Emperor Ningzong, for whom he drew eight teaching charts, among them an astronomical chart, a map of the empire and a table of dynastic succession. When Ningzong took the throne he was made minister of rites and imperial lecturer, but soon died of illness aged forty-nine; he was later named Zhongwen. His biography is in chapter 393 of the History of Song. In 1247 Wang Zhiyuan had his charts carved in stone at Suzhou.
Life and times
Dates c. 1146 – c. 1195