Chinese constellations are the way ancient Chinese grouped the stars. They are very different from the modern IAU recognized constellations, which were based on Greek astronomy, or the Nakshatras of the Indian astronomy. This is due to the independent development of ancient Chinese astronomy.
Ancient Chinese skywatchers divided their night sky into 31 regions, namely Three Enclosures and Twenty-eight Mansions. The Three Enclosures occupy the area close to the North Celestial Pole. The stars in the Three Enclosures can be seen all year around.
The Twenty-eight Mansions occupy the zodiac region of the sky. They can be considered as the equivalent to the 12 zodiacal constellations in the Western Astronomy. Contrary to the Western Astronomy, the Twenty-eight Mansions reflect the movement of the Moon in a lunar month rather than the Sun in a Solar Year.
The Three Enclosures and the Twenty-Eight Mansions are further divided into 283 asterisms. Each visible star is assigned into one of the asterisms. Some of the asterisms only have one star. Traditionally, a star is named by combining the name of its asterism with a number.
