Culture Insider: 8 things you may not know about Start of Winter

Trees covered with rime in Jilin, Jilin province in November 2013.[Photo by Wang Kaidong/asianewsphoto.com]

The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Start of Winter, (Chinese: 立冬), the 19th solar term of the year, begins this year on Nov 8 and ends on Nov 21.

Start of Winter is the first solar term of winter, which means winter is coming and crops harvested in autumn should be stored up.

Here are eight things you should know about Start of Winter.

Beginning of winter or not

In ancient times, the Chinese people took the Start of Winter to be the beginning of the winter. However in fact, the Start of Winter is not the beginning of winter in terms of meteorology. The climate every year is different, so the beginning of winter could be quite different. And with the vast territory of China, winter of every area doesn’t begin at the same time.