Ce (策)

(Left) The end of jade horsewhip in late Shang and early Zhou dynasty and (Right) the demonstration of the horsewhip. (credit: Palace Museum in Taiwan)

Cè (Whip, 策) is a Chinese star name representing the horsewhip, located beside the asterism Wangliang (王良) and closely associated with both Wangliang (王良) and Tiansi (天駟). It belongs to the Gān school. The ancients sometimes also call it Cexing (whip star) or Tiance (celestial whip).

Concordance, Etymology, History

The original meaning of ce refers to a bamboo horsewhip with a pointed tip, and as a verb it can mean “to whip” or “to drive.” In the Tiangaun shu (Book of Heaven Officials, 天官書)of the Western Han, it is said that “When Wang Liang drives his horses, the (war) chariots will fill the fields.” It is uncertain whether the Ce star had already been defined when this divinatory statement was composed (since the Gān Star Catalogue was completed around the same time or slightly later than Sima Qian’s work). However, the Eastern Han scholar Song Jun connected the phenomenon of “driving horses” with the Ce star, writing: “The Ce star is beside Wang Liang; if it moves ahead of Wang Liang, behind the horses, this is called ‘driving the horses.’” A Tang commentary in the Kaiyuan zhanjing adds: “There is a star beside Wang Liang called Ce; ‘driving the horses’ means that this star shines brightly.” These differing interpretations reflect what was considered an anomalous phenomenon in ancient Chinese stellar divination—namely, the apparent motion or brightness variation of a fixed star.

Identification of stars

This star had long been identified as Kappa Cas before the 17th century. However, when European missionaries came to China in the 17th century, they reidentified it as gamma Cas, thereby separating the Whip from Wangliang and severing their cultural connection.

Star Names	Yi Shitong Based on catalogue in 18th century	Pan Nai based on Xinyixiangfayao Star Map and Huangyou Catalogue	SUN X. & J. Kistemaker Han Dynasty	Boshun Yang before Tang dynasty	Boshun Yang Song Jingyou(1034)
Ce	gamma Cas	kappa Cas	kappa Cas	kappa Cas	kappa Cas

Maps (Gallery)

The Ganshi zan (Annotations of Master Gan)  states: “Ce resides at the right of thr charioter.” This description is not entirely precise, as Ce is most likely refers to the Kappa Cas, the only bright star at the right side of Wang Liang and horses (relative to the forward direction of the horses), which located to the front-right of the charioteer (Wang Liang). Nevertheless, in several historical star maps, Ce is indeed drawn to the right of Wang Liang, showing a certain conceptual consistency.

Wangliang and Ce

historical map	modern identification (Yang 2023)	same in Stellarium 24.4
Wangliang and Ce in Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido	Wangliang and Ce before Tang Dynasty Reconstructed by Boshun Yang (2023)	Wangliang and Ce before Tang Dynasty in Stellarium
Wangliang in Suzhou Star Map	Wangliang Reconstructed by Boshun Yang (2023) based on Huangyou Star Catalogue in 1052 CE	Wangliang before 17th Century in Stellarium
Wangliang in Jesuits Star Map in 17th Century	Wangliang Reconstructed by Yi Shitong (1981) based on Qing Star Catalogue in 18th Century	Wangliang after 17th Century in Stellarium

Star Name Discussion (IAU)

In 202x, the name of the historical constellation "xxx" was suggested to be used for one of the stars in this constellation. ...

Decision: ...

References

References (Chinese)