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Jingzhe: the Best Marker of the SpringSeason If you are asked to describe the coming spring season, what are you going to write down? For the Chinese, the answer lies in only two words: Jingzhe. Jingzhe means that the first spring thunder awakens hibernating insects. As one of the 24 solar terms in China, Jingzhe heralds the advent of the spring.
Jing means awakening and Zhe means underground hibernating insects. With an eye on animals’ reactions to seasonal changes, Jingzhe vividly depicts an image of the returning spring season. It reminds us of the simplicity and beauty of Chinese poems and paintings. In the eyes of anyone who knows Chinese, the two words Jing and Zhe present them an image of the coming spring season.What awakens hibernating animals, however, is not the spring thunder but the rising temperature. Jingzhe witnesses the temperature rising above 0 ℃ in most parts of China although the northern side of the Great Wall is still blanketed with winter snow.Jingzhe witnesses the time that the spring season comes at a faster pace. During this period, amazing changes of the spring season unfold one after another. People tend to divide the solar term Jingzhe into three pentads. In the eyes of the Chinese, different lives blossom in each pentad of Jingzhe. The first pentad is a time when peach flowers bloom and vegetation gradually covers the land. During the second pentad, people start to hear the tweets from an increasing number of birds. When the third pentad comes, the spring season will be in its full swing, a time that the birds embrace their courtship season.
In any agricultural civilization, seasonal shifts and phenological changes can provide invaluable guidance for agriculture production. During Jingzhe, rising temperature and thawing soil herald the busy season of agricultural activity. According to the traditional Chinese folklore, the spring cultivation will not abate even after Jingzhe. During Jingzhe, the winter wheat in north China starts to turn green, and the rape flower in the south is ready to bloom. Farmers are busy in their fields from dawn to dusk. The Chinese have the custom of eating pear on the Jingzhe day. Since "pear" and "leave" have the same pronunciation in Chinese, this custom carries the people’s wish for a bumper harvest, in the hope that the pests will leavethe crops alone.Heralding the advent of the vibrant spring season, Jingzhe also implies that the tedious and grim winter days finally come to an end. Insects, awakened from hibernation, look for foods everywhere. People light up wormwood and other herbs to dispel insects in their houses. Later on, this practice got the meaning of getting rid of bad luck.
The 24 solar terms summarize the observations of the Chinese on the law of nature and phenological changes. They are the highlights of the wisdom in Chinese civilization. Jingzhe presents us a typical image of spring, based on countless observations people havemade on the spring season. To mark the advent of the spring season, Jingzhe is perhaps the most appropriate term.
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