Lichun, the whole year’s work depends on a good start in spring

Winter is coming to an end and spring is approaching. In the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, a round year is divided into 24 solar cycles. The Start of Spring, the first of the 24 solar terms, falls on February 4 in 2023.

"Li" means "start" in Chinese. As one of the 24 solar terms, "Start of Spring" has entered people's life since the Spring and Autumn Period.

According to experts, the 24 solar terms first appeared in history books in the Western Han Dynasty, when the Start of Spring was designated as the Spring Festival.

Concluded by ancestors from the shifting weathers and agricultural production, Start of Spring was well regarded as a guide for sowing and plowing in ancient China.

“Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush." said by Doug Larson, an English man, while how Chinese people describe spring? Let’s enjoy a poem by Du Mu, a Literati of Tang dynasty.

Spring on the Southern Rivershore

By Du Mu

Orioles sing for miles amid red blooms and green trees;

By hills and rills wine shop streamers wave in the breeze.

Four hundred eighty splendid temples still remain;

Of Southern Dynasties in the mist and rain.

Lichun well marks the beginning of spring and indicates the coming of warmer days. All these traditions are embedded with people’s wish for a better life in the past and present. When Lichun arrives, we surely know it’s time to sow the seeds of crops and also, the seeds of hope.