Customs of End of Summer

TheHutong

Saturday night marks The End of Heat (Chu Shu), the 14th term of the 24 traditional Chinese solar terms, when the sun moves to the celestial longitude of 150 degrees.

The Chinese character “处” (Chu) means the end, and “处暑” means the end of the hot summer. After the End of Heat, the rainy season in most regions of China, except south and southwest China, will come to an end. And the day-and-night temperature difference will become large, which makes people more vulnerable to respiratory diseases.

Signs of the autumn could also be seen everywhere, with leaves starting to fall, grass and trees beginning to wither.

Contrast to the bleak atmosphere are the scenes in the fields, where crops are starting to ripen and harvest is closing in.

What is more meaningful to the farmers is that the raining season in most parts of China will soon end, and it is necessary to store some water, to prevent possible drought that would impact the planting of winter crops.

Floating river lanterns

The fifteenth of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar marks a traditional festival that combines the customs of the Zhongyuan Festival of the Taoism, Yulan Festival of the Buddhism, and Ghost Festival according to folk traditions. On the night before the festival, people put lotus-shaped lanterns with a lamp or candle into the rivers to mourn the deceased and bless the living as they float.

Glittering lanterns drifting along rivers have become a tourist attraction for many cities and towns, and the scenery could be frequently seen in Chinese TV dramas, films, and documentaries.

Fishing season festival

For fishermen in the coastal areas, it is the harvest season after Chushu. Fishing Festival is held annually in Zhejiang Province to celebrate the beginning of the fishing season. The ocean, where once all boats are docked, becomes the playground of thousands of fishing boats accompanied by thunderous gong and drum beats.

Even one is too busy to take a break for attending those celebrations, outing with friends and families, and enjoying the clear weather and leisurely scattered clouds would also make a nice weekend.

Eating duck

Eating ducks is a folk tradition on Chushu. The cool-natured duck is cooked with lily petals, tangerine C, honey, chrysanthemum and other ingredients. Apart from Peking roast duck, there are a million ways to cook duck in China: Nanjing salted duck, Fujian ginger duck, Cantonese roast duck, Shanghai eight-treasure duck, Yangzhou three-nested duck, etc., each of which is an indispensable part of a proper feast.

Congees are also suitable for the early autumn days. A bowl of congee in the morning could not only provide enough nutrition to the human being but is also helpful for protecting the stomach and intestine.

Lychee, pear, apple, and grape are the fruits listed as suitable by doctors of Chinese medicine, all of them are in line with the characteristics of the preferred food at this time: to supplement Qi, or "life force", which the ancient Chinese believe form the basic life.

Of course, they are also suitable for being succulent and could make the people feel good in such a drought season.

Meanwhile, as the human body would gradually fit a cooler season, people are easily getting tired during the season. Staying up late is strongly advised against. Why not take a nap if possible, and a little sports will be very helpful, too.

Enjoy, as the heat ends.

Source: https://news.cgtn.com/news/326b7a4e30557a6333566d54/index.html