Winter Solstice: Enjoy delicious food before winter hits

Coldness: A key word to define this period

Though the day of Dongzhi may not be that cold, it kicks off the period of time known in Chinese as “Shujiu Hantian,” believed to be the coldest 81 days which could be divided into nine units of “nine-days.”

The Chinese character “nine,” which has the same pronunciation with the word for “long,” is considered as the largest number in ancient China, and was bestowed with the meaning of “maximum” and “extreme.” The “Shujiu Hantian” is, therefore, the ancient Chinese people’s way of describing how long and harsh the winter could be. 

The peak of the coldness usually comes at the third “nine-days,” known as the “Sanjiu” in Chinese. But when the ninth "nine-days" comes, the spring would be in full swing across most part of China. 

Editor：Lotus