The modern constellation Chamaeleon is not included in the Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions system of traditional Chinese uranography because its stars are too far south for observers in China to know about them prior to the introduction of Western star charts. Based on the work of Xu Guangqi and the German Jesuit missionary Johann Adam Schall von Bell in the late Ming Dynasty,[1] this constellation has been classified as one of the 23 Southern Asterisms (Chinese: 近南極星區,) under the name Little Dipper (Chinese: 小斗,).
The name of the western constellation in modern Chinese is Chinese: 蝘蜓座, meaning "the flying gecko constellation".
The map of Chinese constellation in constellation Chamaeleon area consists of :
| Four Symbols !Mansion (Chinese name) | Romanization !Translation | Asterisms (Chinese name) !Romanization | Translation !Western star name | Chinese star name !Romanization | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | Chinese: 近南極星區 (non-mansions) | (non-mansions) | The Southern Asterisms (non-mansions) | Chinese: 小斗 | Little Dipper | |
| β Cha[2] | Chinese: 小斗一 | 1st star | ||||
| ε Cha | Chinese: 小斗二 | 2nd star | ||||
| γ Cha | Chinese: 小斗三 | 3rd star | ||||
| δ2 Cha | Chinese: 小斗四 | 4th star | ||||
| Chinese: 小斗五 | 5th star | |||||
| Chinese: 小斗六 | 6th star | |||||
| η Cha | Chinese: 小斗七 | 7th star | ||||
| θ Cha | Chinese: 小斗八 | 8th star | ||||
| α Cha | Chinese: 小斗九 | 9th star |