This work explores the relationship between time, temporality, and power by utilizing interactions between Jesuit missionaries and the Ming and Qing governments of late imperial China as a case study. It outlines the complex relationship between knowledge of celestial mechanics, methods of measuring the passage of time, and the tightly controlled circumstances in which that knowledge was allowed to operate. Just as the Chinese courts exercised authority over time and the heavens, so too had the Catholic Church in Europe. So as messengers of God’s authority, the Jesuits identified the importance of astronomical and temporal authority in Chinese culture and sought to convey the supremacy of Christianity through their mastery of the stars and negotiate positions of power within both imperial governments.

The origins of time / Nathaniel Lawrence -- Scientific explanation and the evolution of time / Conrad Dale Johnson -- J.T. Fraser's "levels of temporality" as cognitive representations / John A. Michon -- The emergence of time / Denis Corish -- Time, technology, religion, and productivity values in early modern Europe / Francis C. Haber -- Literary images of progress / Samuel L. Macey -- Reflections on time in Indian philosophy -- The shape of time in African music / Ruth M. Stone -- Temporal linearity and nonlinearity in music / Jonathan D. Kramer -- Humanities and the experiences of time / George H. Ford -- On the limits of empirical knowledge in the traditional Chinese sciences / N. Sivin -- The evolution of Chines science and technology / Jin Guantao, Fan Dainian, Fan Hongye, and Liu Qingfeng -- Cultural and intellectual attitudes that prevented the spontaneous emergence of modern science in China / Qiu Renzong -- Progressive and regressive time cycles in Taoist ritual / Kristofer Schipper and Wang Hsiu-Huei -- Mohist views of time and space / Zhang Yinzhi -- Chinese traditional medicine / Hans Ågren -- Zi Wu flow theory and time / Lo Huisheng -- Time in archaeological thought Synnove Vinsrygg -- Space and time in Chinese verse / Frederick Turner.