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Beginning of Spring

The beginning of spring is the first of the twenty-four solar terms. Li means “beginning”; spring means warmth and growth.

The twenty-four solar terms were originally formulated according to the ” Dou Zhuan Xing Yi “, when the handle of the Big Dipper points to the Yin position, it is the beginning of spring. At present, the solar terms are determined according to the celestial longitude of the sun. When the sun reaches 315° of the celestial longitude, it is the beginning of spring, which falls on February 3-5 in the Gregorian calendar every year. [20] In the Ganzhi Era, Yinyue is the beginning of spring and Lichun is the beginning of the year. Lichun is the beginning of all things and the meaning of rebirth, which means that a new cycle has begun. In the traditional concept, Lichun has auspicious meaning.

Beginning of spring marks the end of the winter when everything is closed, and the beginning of spring when the wind and sun are warm and everything grows. In nature, the most notable feature of the Beginning of Spring is that everything begins to show signs of recovery. When it comes to the beginning of spring, you can clearly feel the breath of early spring in China’s Tropic of Cancer (the intersection of yellow and red) and the area south of it .

Due to my country’s vast territory, large span from north to south, and different natural rhythms in different places, “Lichun” is just a prelude to spring in many areas. Everything has not yet recovered, and it is still winter when everything is closed.

Historical Origins:

Beginning of Spring, the first of the twenty-four solar terms, is also known as the First Moon Festival, New Year’s Day, Gaisui, Suidan, etc. Li means “beginning”; spring means warmth and growth. In nature, the most notable feature of the Beginning of Spring is that everything begins to show signs of recovery. Lichun is the beginning of all things and the meaning of all rebirth, which means that a new cycle has begun. [20] Lichun is the beginning of spring, and the time sequence enters spring.

Although it is still cold and cold at this time, the cold winter is over, spring returns to the earth, everything recovers, and nature is full of vitality. Therefore, the ancients attached great importance to the beginning of spring, and there were rituals to welcome the spring in ancient times.

The twenty-four solar terms are the product of ancient farming civilization, and it occupies an extremely important position in my country’s traditional farming society. Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the customs and cultures of the north and the south were different. In some places, the etiquette and customs of the first year of the year were not the first day of the first lunar month in the lunar calendar, but the beginning of spring in the 24 solar terms of the Ganzhi calendar. The beginning of spring is of great significance to the traditional farming society.

Major celebrations such as worshiping gods and ancestors, praying for blessings, exorcising evil and disasters, removing the old and bringing forth new ones, and welcoming the new year are all held on the day of the beginning of spring and before and after the period. The festive activities not only constitute the framework of the first festival of later generations, but also its folk function has been preserved to this day.

The Ming Dynasty work ” Qunfangpu ” explained Lichun as: “Standing is the beginning of construction. The beginning of spring is the beginning of establishment.” “Erhou Jijie “: “Lichun is the first month festival; Lili is the beginning of establishment; the Qi of the five elements goes here and the past continues here; and the Qi of spring trees begins to arrive, so it is called Li; Lixia, autumn, and winter are the same. ”

Astronomical calendar broadcast

Division basis

Stars and stars (before Qin and Han Dynasties)

” Twenty-four solar terms ” is a product of ancient farming civilization, which was originally determined by the rotation of the handle of the Big Dipper. China’s astrology culture has a long history and is extensive and profound. The ancients began to explore the mysteries of the universe very early, and deduced a complete and profound stargazing culture from this. The Big Dipper will appear in different directions in the northern hemisphere sky in different seasons and at different times of night.

It is the ruler for the ancients to determine the direction and seasonal solar terms. Polaris is located at the northern end of the earth’s axis, on the five-fold extension of the line connecting Tianxuan and Tianshu in the Big Dipper. Due to the rotation of the earth, the Polaris is right on the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere, so it is relatively motionless, and the Big Dipper on the edge of the axis looks like it is revolving around the Polaris, which produces the “star shift ” .

The rotation of the bucket handle is called a year. “Sui” is also known as ” Sheti ” and ” Tai Sui “. It is the name of the star in the ancient era. The cold and heat push each other and the year is full. The ancients believed that December is the law of the universe’s operation, such as ” Wen Zi · Natural “: “December runs, and it starts again and again.”

It means that the sky and the earth go around and around, and cycle again and again. The solar terms established by the “Douzhi Pointing Method” start from the Yin of the Douzhi, “the Yin of the Douzhi is the beginning of spring, the Ren of the Douzhi is the rain, the ding of the Douzhi is the Jingzhe, … the ugliness of the Douzhi is the Great Cold.

“It began in the beginning of spring and ended in the Great Cold. Although the twenty-four solar terms calendar was formulated by the ancients based on the shifting of the Big Dipper and stars, the cause of the shifting of the stars is actually the earth’s revolution around the sun. Therefore, the handle of the dipper points to the time of the solar terms and the current solar eclipse. Basically the same. [20] [26]
In the early era of observation and time service, the age was determined according to the changes of the stars. Tianwei and Jianyuan started from Yin, as recorded in ” Huainanzi Tianwen Xun “: “Emperor Zhang Siwei, transported by fighting, moved to his place every month, and returned to his place.

The first month refers to Yin, and December refers to ugliness. Turn around at the age, and start again from the end.” December runs, and it starts again and again. At the end of the year, December refers to the ugly side, and the first month returns to the Yin. The first month of Jianyin is also called “Yuan” month, Lichun is the first day of the first month, and Lichun is the calendar year of Ganzhi (year, sheti). “Historical Records. Tianguan Shu”: “On the first day of the first month, the first day of the king’s year, the beginning of spring, the beginning of the four seasons”, the beginning of spring is the beginning of the four seasons.

Guibiao shadow measurement (Han to early Qing Dynasty)

The solar terms measured by the Guibiao shadow measurement method (average time method) only share the same name with the ” Twenty-Four Solar Terms ” formulated by “Dou Zhuan Xing Yi”, and the determination method and starting time are completely different. During the period of Emperor Wudi in the Western Han Dynasty, the day when the shadow of the sun was longest and the day was the shortest ( short solstice ) was measured in the Yellow River Basin by using the vertical pole measurement (guibiao ) as the day of the winter solstice. Divide the date between the winter solstice and the next winter solstice into twelve equal parts, called “Zhongqi”, and then divide the time between adjacent “Zhongqi” into equal parts, called “Jiaoqi”.

On average, there is one “moderate gas” and one “solar gas” per month, which are collectively referred to as “twenty-four solar terms”. This method of determination is called the average time method (also known as “flat gas method”). time is equal. The “average time method” divides the calendar year into 24 segments (each segment is 15 days), and the number of days between each two solar terms is averaged.

Measure the winter solstice first because the shadow is the longest during the winter solstice, and the shadow length changes in the adjacent days are the most obvious, which is more conducive to observation and recording. The solar terms divided by the average time method, with an interval of 15 days between each solar term, do not take into account the uneven movement of the sun on the ecliptic, which is inconsistent with the actual astronomical phenomenon.

Before and after the winter solstice, the earth is near the perihelion and moves at a slightly faster speed, which causes the time for the sun to directly shine on the southern hemisphere in a year to be about 8 days shorter than that of the northern hemisphere , so winter in the northern hemisphere is slightly shorter than summer. The solar terms divided by the “average time method” rank the winter solstice at the top of the “twenty-four solar terms”, starting from the winter solstice and ending with heavy snow.

Solar longitude (current)

The current ” twenty-four solar terms ” comes from the method of determining the solar terms according to the position of the sun on the zodiac established more than 300 years ago (it has been used since 1645), and from the establishment of the “Shixian Calendar” until now. The “lunar calendar” and “twenty-four solar terms” are determined according to the position of the sun on the zodiac , that is, on a “zodiac” with a 360-degree circle (the apparent path of the sun on the celestial sphere in a year), it is divided into 24 equal parts, one equal part every 15°, with the vernal equinox as the starting point of 0 degrees (the beginning of spring is still listed as the first in the sorting), arranged according to the yellow longitude.

Every 15 degrees the sun moves on the ecliptic is a “solar term”, and the degrees between each “solar term” are equal (the time is not equal), also known as the “fixed gas method”. In the twenty-four solar terms, the activity rules of the direct sun point at the time of ” half-second solstice ” are as follows:

on the spring equinox, the direct sun point is at 0° on the equator, and then moves northward; on the summer solstice, the direct sun point is on the Tropic of Cancer ( 23°26’N), and then It moves south; at the autumnal equinox, the point of direct sunlight is at 0° on the equator, and then continues to move southward; at the winter solstice, the point of direct sunlight is on the Tropic of Cancer (23°26’S), and then moves northward.

The twenty-four solar terms are 24 time points, and the specific day of the “point” is the natural result of the movement of celestial bodies . The current solar terms, which are divided according to the degrees of yellow longitude, start from the beginning of spring and end in the great cold.

China is located in the northern hemisphere, and the Tropic of Cancer (the intersection of yellow and red) passes through China. The ecliptic angle is the angle between the ecliptic plane and the equatorial plane, also known as the solar declination angle or the ecliptic distance, which is the fundamental reason for the change of seasons and the distinction of the five belts on the earth. The conversion of natural solar terms is closely related to the astronomical “yellow-ecliptic angle”.

The latitude value of the Tropic of Cancer is the angle between the yellow and the red. It is a special latitude line with typical astronomical significance on the earth. It has important significance for astronomy, geography, climate, biology, etc. The “twenty-four solar terms” arrangement is closely related to this special astronomical latitude and China’s monsoon climate type.

When there is a winter-spring transition in the astronomical sense (douzhiyin or the yellow longitude of the sun reaches 315°), one side of the Tropic of Cancer (the intersection of yellow and red) is full of spring, but the other side is still bleak winter.

“Li” means “beginning”, and Lichun is the beginning of spring. Every year on February 4 or 5, when the sun reaches 315 degrees of the yellow longitude, it is Lichun.

Calendar Fusion

The twenty-four solar terms are specific festivals in the Ganzhi calendar that express changes in natural rhythms and establish “December Jian”. There are four seasons at one year old, three months each in spring, summer, autumn and winter, and two solar terms each month, and each solar term has its own unique meaning. The twenty-four solar terms accurately reflect changes in natural rhythms and play an extremely important role in people’s daily lives.

In the historical development, the twenty-four solar terms were included in the lunar calendar and became an important part of the lunar calendar. Usually “Shoushou” is used to refer to the first day of the first month of the calendar. Strictly speaking, “Sui” is a unique concept of the Ganzhi calendar. Sui means “Sheti”, also known as Tai Sui. The first day of the first month (Tai Sui) is the beginning of spring. The lunar calendar is based on the change of lunar phases into one month, and the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is often called “Yuanshuo”.

“Sui” and “year” were strictly distinguished in ancient times: from the beginning of spring to the next beginning of spring, it is called a year; from January 1st to the next January 1st, it is called a “year”. The twelve zodiac signs correspond to the twelve earthly branches , and the conversion of the zodiac signs is bounded by the beginning of spring.

The lunar calendar is based on the change cycle of the moon phase. Each lunar phase changes into one month. The length of the solar return year is referred to as a year. Twenty-four solar terms are added and the leap month is set to make the average calendar year and the return year fit.

The lunar calendar is a yin-yang combined calendar based on the lunar calendar (summer calendar) that incorporates solar elements. Because of the addition of solar elements, the lunar calendar is a calendar that takes into account the relationship between the sun, the moon, and the earth. It is a yin-yang calendar.

Since the pure lunar calendar does not consider the movement of the earth around the sun, the changes of the four seasons have no fixed time on the lunar calendar and cannot reflect the seasonal changes. Unlike the Gregorian year, which is fixed at 365 days or 366 days, the lunar year sometimes has a difference of one month in the number of days compared with the Gregorian year; in order to coordinate the number of days between the lunar year and the Gregorian year, the lunar calendar adopts the “intercalation method ” Adjustments are made to match the total number of days in the year between the two.

The solar calendar is used to measure the apparent movement of the sun, which is a tropical year . In the lunar calendar, it is called: Sui Shi. Beginning of Spring always falls around February 4th in the Gregorian calendar. Because the Gregorian calendar is one of the solar calendars, but because the Gregorian calendar is an average solar calendar, it can only basically correspond to solar terms, and sometimes fluctuate by one or two days before and after.

Calendar Conversion

The phenomenon of ” Double Lichun ” and ” No Spring Year “:

In the development of history, the ancients formed the lunar calendar based on the lunar calendar by fusing the components of the solar calendar. Strictly speaking, it belongs to the combination of yin and yang. In people’s traditional concept, “Lichun” is the season when Yang Qi rises and all things regenerate, and the lunar year with ” double spring ” is regarded as an auspicious year.

“Shuanglichun” and “No Spring Year” are concepts in the summer calendar (lunar calendar), which refer to a year with ” Shuanglichun ” in the lunar calendar or a year without “Lichun” throughout the year.

This is due to the short length of the lunar year. Because of the return year, some years are longer than the return year. For example: 2016 is a ” year without spring ” in the lunar calendar, that is, there is no day of beginning of spring throughout the year. There is no spring without spring in the Ganzhi calendar, because every year starts with “Li Chun”.

The length of the tropical year is 365.2422 days, which is the time interval between two adjacent solar terms. The average length of the Gregorian calendar year is 365.2425 days, which is almost the same as the return year, so the date of Lichun in the Gregorian calendar year is basically fixed, most of the years are February 4, and some years are February 3 or February 5. The situation is different in the lunar calendar year.

The method adopted in the lunar calendar is the “7 leap months in 19 years” method, that is, 7 leap months are added to the 19 lunar calendar years. A year without a leap month in the lunar calendar has 353 to 355 days, about 11 days less than a return year; a year with a leap month has 383 to 385 days, about 19 days more than a return year. Therefore, there are 25 solar terms in leap years, and 23 or 24 solar terms in ordinary years. Therefore, the position of Lichun in the lunar calendar shows four situations: at the beginning of the year; at the end of the year;

Years with a leap month in the lunar calendar (7 out of every 19 years), because the year is longer than the year of return, there is a spring day at the beginning of the year and the end of the year, that is, “two-end spring”; years without a leap month (12 out of 19 years), because The length of the year is shorter than that of the return year, and the “year without spring” is the most, and the remaining days of beginning of spring are about half at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year. This pattern takes 19 years as a cycle and repeats itself, with slight differences in individual years.

There is one Lichun, double Lichun, or no Lichun in a year in the lunar calendar, which is caused by the conversion of the lunar and solar calendars. It is a normal calendar phenomenon and has nothing to do with bad luck. In the old days, people believed that “the year without the beginning of spring is the year of widows”, and it is not suitable for marriage. But this is a claim without scientific basis.

In the 100 years of the 20th century, there were 37 years with two springs, 37 years with no spring, 12 years with the beginning of spring at the beginning of the year, and 14 years with the beginning of spring at the end of the year.

Weather Change

At the beginning of spring, the westerly jet of the south branch of East Asia has begun to weaken, but the intensity and position of the westerly jet of the north branch have basically remained unchanged. The Mongolian cold high pressure and the Aleutian low pressure are still relatively strong, but the frequency of southerly winds increases during the interval period under the influence of strong cold air , accompanied by an obvious temperature rise process.

From the beginning of the Spring Festival, the time sequence has entered spring. In nature and in people’s minds, “spring” means the wind and the sun are warm, and it means the recovery of all things. The beginning of spring, in the natural world, the most notable feature is that everything begins to show signs of recovery.

At the beginning of spring, the dividing line between winter and spring in China (spring is counted as the daily average temperature exceeding 10 degrees Celsius for 5 consecutive days), is on the line from Guilin, Guangxi to Ganzhou, Jiangxi. In the area south of that line, there is a breath of spring at the beginning of spring, but 93% of China’s land area is still winter. In Heilongjiang, spring often begins when the rains and the beginning of summer. The so-called beginning of spring is just a “concept”.

During the beginning of spring, the temperature begins to rise, and the sunshine and rainfall begin to increase. But for much of the country, it’s just the beginning of spring.