{"id":6255,"date":"2019-11-10T01:59:44","date_gmt":"2019-11-10T01:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-culture\/dong-zhi-dongzhi-winter-solstice\/"},"modified":"2019-11-10T01:59:44","modified_gmt":"2019-11-10T01:59:44","slug":"dong-zhi-dongzhi-winter-solstice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/th\/dong-zhi-dongzhi-winter-solstice\/","title":{"rendered":"\u51ac\u81f3 Dongzhi – Winter solstice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today is the day of Do<\/em>ngzhi (\u51ac\u81f3 d\u014dng zhì )<\/strong>, or winter solstice, in China this year. As one of the 24 solar terms according to China’s traditio<\/em>nal lunar calendar, Do<\/em>ngzhi is co<\/em>nsidered a very im<\/em>portant one that many people even co<\/em>nsider it as a festival.<\/p>\n

What is Do<\/em>ngzhi(\u51ac\u81f3 d\u014dng zhì)?<\/font><\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In China, there are 24 solar terms(\u8282\u6c14ji\u0113 qì)<\/a> which were traditio<\/em>nally celebrated in the history. In the whole year, Do<\/em>ngzhi is the day with the shortest daytime but lo<\/em>ngest night because the Sun’s position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane.<\/p>\n

From the day of Dongzhi, the daytime starts to become lo<\/em>nger and longer, which was co<\/em>nsidered a good sign by ancient people, and therefore appeared a saying of ‘Do<\/em>ngzhi is as im<\/em>portant as the New Year’.<\/p>\n

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What do Chinese people do?<\/em><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

People did various celebrating activities on this day. During Ming and Qing dynasties, the emperors offered sacrifice to the sky and some other gods on Dongzhi. The grand ceremony was being held until the end of the dynastic period. Nowadays, many people in north China eat dumplings(\u997a\u5b50ji\u01ceo z\u01d0 )<\/strong> on the day of Dongzhi.<\/p>\n

In other areas of China such as the south, people eat different food such as Tangyuan(\u6c64\u5706t\u0101ng yuán\uff09,<\/strong> which is a kind of rice flour ball with a sweet filling, on Dongzhi. Although eating certain food is the common way of passing Do<\/em>ngzhi today, people in old times used to hold some activities on this day.<\/p>\n

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How did it originate?<\/font><\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Chinese folk saying, Do<\/em>ngzhi is the start of the cold winter. From this day, every nine days are counted as a phase, in which the third and fourth phases are said to be the coldest of the year, and there are totally nine phases before the spring comes. According to a tale, the custom of eating dumplings was originated because of the chilliness.<\/p>\n

People used to get together and drink alcohol on this day. They drew a chart called ‘Xiao Han Tu’, with 81 grids representing the 9 phases after Dongzhi, and filled each grid black or with a plum blossom as a countdown of the end of winter and showed people’s expectations for the coming spring.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, people no lo<\/em>nger draw the "Xiao Han Tu" to count the days left in winter, but still keep the tradition of eating the symbolically traditio<\/em>nal food and wearing more warm clothes after Dongzhi. Everyone still hopes the cold winter can pass soon and the New Year starts with a beautiful spring.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n