Category: Chinese customs

In most parts of China, customs around the End of Heat period are often related to worshiping ancestors and welcoming autumn, Eating Duck in End of Heat, Floating River Lanterns and The Fishing Season Festival.

Stopping the Heat Introduction “Stopping the Heat” happens on August 23 each year when the sun reaches thecelestial longitude of 150 degrees. At this point, the hot summer passes and heatstops. Although many of the places in China still have a day average temperature ofmore than 22 degree Celsius, the cold air comes from the north make the weather cooldown slowly. It’s usually hot in the day and cold in the morning and in the evening. In this season, the eagle starts to hunt birds, many plants and flowers start to wither, andcrops like millet, paddy rice and fine grain all get mature.

End of Heat is the 14th of the 24 solar terms. It begins when the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 150° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 165°. It usually refers in particular to the day when the sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 150°. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around Aug 23 and ends around Sept 7.

Wumu, or ebony, is botanically related to the Ebenacea family. It has a fine closed grain which is very brittle, and the color can be pure black to black and brown. Because it grows as a small-diameter tree, it is rarely used as primary material for large pieces of furniture, but more often shaped into secondary decorative elements or as small precious objects.

梅山派又称为"新化派"，流传于湖南梅山地区。梅山地区本来就有很强的尚武之风，宋代以前多使用戈戟，善于使用弓弩。明朝的时候习惯用弓箭配合马匹，重视实用技能，也曾涌现出很多轻功高手，新化有个义军首领李庭禄就能"拔剑飞檐"。Meishan sect is also known as the Xinhua sect, which is popular in Meishan region of Hunan Province. Before the Song Dynasty, the people of Meishan often used daggers and halberds, and excelled at using arrows and bows. In the Ming Dynasty, people there were good at archery on horseback. They stressed the importance of everyday skills and there were some qinggong (flying skill) masters. Li Tinglu, a chief of a rebellion group in Xinhua could "fly to the top of a roof with sword in his hand."
明以后南北武艺相继传入，当地拳家取其精华而独成一派。该派武术简捷而实用，粗犷而有力，手法多，桩步稳，常发声助劲。注重桩功和指掌功。俗称"四十天打，三十夜桩"。After the Ming Dynasty, Kungfu from the south and the north was introduced in succession and local Kungfu masters absorbed each's essences to establish their own independent sect. Kungfu of this sect is simple, useful and powerful, featuring abundant hand skills and stable maneuvers. People often shout to regain power when fighting. They focus on step skills and palm and finger skills. As the saying goes, "forty days practices of fists and thirty nights practices of standing on stakes."

The 15th day of the 7th lunar month is Hungry Ghost Festival as well as Zhongyuan Festival, Yu Lan Pen festival and ShiHu. It used to be a religious ceremony in India. The Buddhist would hold the Yu Lan Pen Festival in memory of their forefathers. The Yu Lan Pen canon was compiled to encourage the Buddhists' piety, so it went with the Chinese custom of commemorating their ancestors and became popular in many Chinese regions. There was a popular folk tale about how the monk, MuNian, saved his mother from suffering. MuNian had great magic power. One day his mother fell into the mouth of a hungry ghost and turned into flames in endless suffering. MuNian had no idea to save his mother, so he asked Buddha for help. Buddha told him the Yu Lan Pen canon and asked him to save his mother on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month with the help of Yu Lan Pen.

Jichimu, literally translated as 'chicken-wing wood', describes a wood whose deep brown and gray patterns when cut tangentially resemble the patterns of bird feathers. The radial cut appears less dramatically with parallel lines of concentric layered tissue. It is botanically classified in the Ormosia genus of which as many as twenty-six species may grow in China. Jichimu is indigenous to Hainan Island, and the relatively large quantity of jichimu furniture found in Fujian province also corresponds to a source where seven different species are reportedly found today, and whose materials are virtually undifferentiated, yet bear varying leaf patterns. Hongdou (red bean), and xiangsi may also be other names for related species.