Abstract: During the period from 1849—1862，when Wang Tao worked at Shanghai Mohai Publishing House，he first knew and started to learn Western astronomy under the influence of two English sinologists，Joseph Edkins and Alexander Wylie. He often discussed Chinese and Western astronomy with his friend，the mathematician Li Shanlan. From 1867 to 1870，when he was in Ireland，Wang exchanged ideas with John Chalmers，an English missionary and pointed out the mistakes of the latter’ s view about ancient Chinese astronomy. John Chalmers was astonished but highly praised Wang’ s achievement in Chinese astronomy. Wang Tao’s research on Chunqiu period astronomy took advantage of Western astronomy as well as the Chinese traditional astronomy. He corrected the astronomical knowledge of Chunqiu period，revealed the complicated system of astronomy in Chunqiu period and eruditely explained ancient Chinese astronomy. Wang Tao’s ideas about Chinese astronomy and its meanings greatly influenced James Legge’ s translation of The Spring and Autumn Annals，one of the great Chinese Classics.