Minor Cold, a Chinese solar term, is set to usher in preparations for the Lunar New Year, Zhang Lei reports.

A bird on a plum tree in a park in Zunyi, Guizhou province on the day of Minor Cold last year. (MU MINGFEI / XINHUA)

The Chinese astronomical calendar shows that at 23:04:39 (Beijing time) on Thursday, xiaohan or Minor Cold, arrives. The 23rd term of the 24 traditional Chinese solar terms, which spans 15 days, marks the onset of the coldest period of the year.

The calendar is published by the Purple Mountain Observatory with Chinese Academy of Sciences, an authoritative astronomical measurement institution in China. Responsible for the implementation of the country's calendar calculation, it compiles the annual lunar calendar, including the time of the occurrence of the solar terms.

Luo Shuwei, a researcher at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, says every year around this time, a cold air mass moves from Siberia toward the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, with the strongest cold wave peaking during the following solar term Major Cold in 15 days.

Despite the severe cold, yang, a positive and active force in the Chinese yinyang theory, continues to grow. During xiaohan, as the yang energy is slightly higher than that of Winter Solstice, wild geese begin to migrate to the north because they feel the growth of yang during the first five days of xiaohan.

Ancient Chinese also recorded during the next five days that magpies were seen in the north, starting to build their nests as they also felt an increase of yang. As a result of this energy gaining momentum over five days, pheasants started to tweet loudly.

Children at a care center wait for their laba rice porridge on xiaohan. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Among the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, only White Dew and Minor Cold are marked as being bird-related in phenology. It is believed that birds can sense the flows of yin and yang before people do.

The surroundings of snow, ice and rocks have the grandeur of wilderness.

However, the plum blossoms during this time of the year have inspired many romantics, especially people of letters, to come up with the expression huaxinfeng, or "flower-greeting wind", conferring people to boundless reverie.

"Cold and cloudy as it is, the sun is growing at the beginning of dawn; before the news of spring is announced, the early thin wintersweet (a flowering plant with Chinese name lamei meaning "plum in wax") blossoms first, with shallow buds and fine pistils; evenly fragrant, it is born with casual and elegant bearing," wrote Song Dynasty (960-1279) poet Yu Zhi in Scent of Wintersweet, a poem dedicated to xiaohan.

Some 24 names for the "flower-greeting wind" first appeared in the Record of Jingchu Region, an important book on folk custom in Hubei province in the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-581).

People call it the "flower-greeting wind", as it literally brings news of flowering. Five days are regarded as one section, and three sections make up one solar term. Every year, the blooming of a distinct flower is recorded across the 24 sections in the eight solar terms from Minor Cold to Grain Rain in April. Xiaohan is the starting point of the 24 "flower-greeting wind" journeys, with plum blossoms in the first section, with camellia, narcissus following suit.

People play with snow in a park in Beijing. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Plum tops the chart in China as a popular flower for its lofty and unyielding character. It is listed as one of the "four gentlemen" along with orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum, and one of the "three friends of severe cold" along with pine and bamboo.

Many regions in the north during xiaohan are ideal for anyone who would like to swish around through the snow and ice.

"At this time, ice rinks in Beijing's Beihai Park, Shichahai scenic area and other places are all open," says folklore expert Gao Wei. "Especially at night, it is more beautiful than during the day. The lights in the ice rink are bright, reflecting the white surface of ice. The White Pagoda in Beihai Park, from an era when entertainment was scarce, is today a nostalgic winter memory for many who grew up in Beijing."

The success of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China has spawned a new wave of popularity in ice and snow sports.

"This is a manifestation of the change of customs. Folk customs are not static. They evolve with the changes in lifestyles," Gao says.

Xiaohan also precedes the Chinese New Year. There is a folk proverb that goes, "Prepare for the New Year during Minor Cold and Major Cold".

After xiaohan, the atmosphere of the Lunar New Year picks up with families. People begin to write Spring Festival couplets, use the paper-cutting craft to make window decorations, clean the house, go to the market to buy firecrackers, incense and lanterns.

Xiaohan falls on the 12th month of the lunar calendar, and often around laba, the eighth day of the 12th month. In Beijing, laba is generally considered to be the beginning of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Virtually every household in the city eats porridge on that day. Laba porridge is made of ingredients such as glutinous rice, sesame, barley rice, longan, red dates, shiitake mushrooms and lotus seeds. This tradition of making the porridge can be traced back to the Song Dynasty, extolling the significance of diligence and thrift.

A worker takes orchids in a market to customers. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The festival is also a grand occasion in Buddhism. Before Sakyamuni became enlightened, he practiced asceticism for many years, and found that asceticism was not the way to ultimate liberation, so he decided to give it up. At that time, he met a shepherdess who offered him porridge. His physical strength recovered, and he sat under a tree to meditate and became enlightened on the eighth day of the 12 month in the lunar calendar.

To commemorate this event, Buddhists hold rituals on the day, offering rice and fruit porridge to the Buddha and the poor.

The twelfth lunar month is also called layue, or preserved month.

"The word la itself refers to various preserved foods that are used for sacrifices. In nature, one cycle of four seasons ends and another cycle is about to begin. At this time, people offer sacrifices to heaven and earth to acquire psychological satisfaction and joy. That's related to the Chinese saying 'be happy during auspicious events,'" Gao says.

Folklore expert Liu Xiaochang says xiaohan was connected with a sense of ritual in the old days, as la also symbolized a new beginning. For example, people in Chengdu, Sichuan province, used to hold a grand sacrifice around xiaohan. It was not only to worship ancestors, but also to worship the gods for good harvests. After a year's hard work, farmers also ushered in the season when they could take a breather.

"They took the holiday as an opportunity to relax," he says.

In Tianjin, in the old days, there was a custom of eating yellow sprouts on xiaohan.

Pupils play ice hockey in a primary school in Hebei province. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Yellow sprouts are a specialty of Tianjin, made from cabbage sprouts. After Winter Solstice, locals cut off the stems and leaves of cabbages, leaving only the core areas, about 5 centimeters above the ground. When eaten after half a month, it is extremely crispy and tender.

The ancient farming society attached great importance to xiaohan, but with the passing of time, many customs have gradually disappeared. However, the custom of eating vegetable rice and chicken soup in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, has been preserved to this day.

Folklore expert Wang Yongjian says Nanjing people's custom of eating vegetable rice on xiaohan may have something to do with the need for something warm in the cold weather. Stir-fried vegetables and rice are mixed together with bacon, sausage, ham and diced salted duck. Among the ingredients, the salted duck is the specialty food of Nanjing. The seemingly common ingredients today were enjoyed by only rich families in the past. Poor people were reluctant to add meat, and would toss a spoonful of lard in the vegetable rice for seasoning instead.

For nine days since winter solstice, Nanjing locals even today manage the cold by having chicken soup and eggs as indispensable foods during xiaohan. With the changes of time and a shift toward health preservation, people now have formed new folk customs during this period. For example, many young people in Nanjing have started to have mutton soup and beef soup as "tonics".

Cantonese who are very particular about dietary therapy are used to eating glutinous rice for breakfast during xiaohan, with bacon, diced sausage and peanuts. In traditional Chinese medicine it is believed that the recipe can nourish the heart, help the lungs, and regulate qi in the kidneys.

Mutton hotpot, sugar roasted chestnuts and grilled sweet potatoes have become popular during xiaohan, especially among young people.

"No matter what you eat, as long as you can let young people and children know more about the solar terms by eating these seasonal foods, it is good. The 24 solar terms are the essence of traditional Chinese culture and these customs should be kept alive," Wang says.