Shixian calendar adopted
On Kim Yuk’s advice Joseon adopted the Shixian calendar, made in Qing on the basis of Western astronomy.
The Shixian calendar was devised at the end of Ming by the German Jesuit Johann Adam Schall von Bell and others on the basis of Western astronomy, and used by Qing from 1645. Joseon had been making its almanacs on the basis of the Datong calendar, but its eclipse predictions often failed. Kim Yuk, after returning from Qing, urged the adoption of the new calendar, and after officials of the Bureau of Astronomy were sent to Qing to learn its methods, it was adopted in 1653 under King Hyojong.
It was an early case of adopting Western learning. Along with other Western knowledge reaching Korea through China in the 17th century — Matteo Ricci’s world map, the Kunyu wanguo quantu, brought from Beijing by Yi Gwang-jeong and Gwon Hui in 1603, Crown Prince Sohyeon’s contact with Schall, and the cannon, telescope, clock and astronomy books brought back by Jeong Du-won — it helped lay the ground for Silhak.
