Pole-star worship and determination of time by Ursa Major existed in China from remote antiquity. The Chinese name for the pole-star is Teen-hwang-ta-tee, literally the great imperial ruler of the Heaven. In China “the pole-star, round which the entire firmament appears to turn, ought to be considered as the Sovereign of the Heavens, and as the most venerated divinity” (G. Schlegel, Uranographie Chinoise, p. 524). The sacred central forbidden enclosure, at Peking, contains a temple of the North Star God. In the description of the imperial worship held at the winter and summer solstices, in James Edkins’ Religion in China (London, 1878, p. 24) it is stated: “On the second terrace of the east side, the tablet of the Sun is placed, and also that of _the Great Bear_, the five of the 28 constellations and one for all the other stars.” The following passage shows the origin of the Chinese year: 1. “The months and seasons are determined by the revolution of Ursa Major (the Chinese name for which is Pek-tao the ‘Seven Directors’). The tail of the constellation pointing to the east at nightfall announces the arrival of spring; pointing to the south the arrival of summer; pointing to the west the arrival of autumn and pointing to the north the arrival of winter. This means of calculating the seasons becomes more intelligible when it is remembered that in ancient times the Bear was much nearer the north pole than now and revolved around it like the hand of a clock” (Prof. Rob. K. Douglass, China. London, 1887, p. 418). The Chinese zodiac is represented with the pole-star and circumpolar constellations in the centre (Astronomy of the Chinese, Ancient China, W. H. Medhurst, Shanghae, 1846). 2. The determination and designation of six directions in space. In Chinese the six ho or ki designate the limits of space, the zenith, nadir and four quarters (Mayer’s Manual, pp. 306, 312 and 321). “The term Liu-ho also applies to the six pairs of cyclical signs and means ‘Universe,’ that is, Heaven and Earth [being Above and Below] and the Four Quarters.”(79) The syllable ho also occurs in the following words which deserve to be collated with the Maya list: Hô=river, hu=lake. C-hó-o=master, _cf._ Maya hol=head. Hó-o=resident, _cf._ Maya ho=capital. Shó-o=tree, _cf._ Maya ci-hom=tree. Pih-shó-o=cypress. Kwó=country, _cf._ mouth, symbol for land or below. Kòw=mouth, etc. Chow=name of ancient metropolis.