#71 ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ (๐๐๐๐๐) ๐๐๐
To understand ancient Chinese agrarian economy, one ought to look at how solar terms play a pivotal role, and thus learn to appreciate the wisdom of ancient Chinese.
Today (Jan 6, 2024) is ๅฐๅฏ i.e. Minor Cold, the second last item of the 24 solar terms (ไบๅๅ่ๆฐ, see above) of the year based on traditional Chinese lunisolar calendars. So it does indicate that Spring is approaching as the last item ๅคงๅฏ "Major Cold" is next in line.
Actually if you think that ๅคงๅฏ is colder than ๅฐๅฏ, you could be in for a rude shock as meteorological readings over the years have indicated that it is colder during ๅฐๅฏ than ๅคงๅฏ in northern China. This is plausible as prior to ๅฐๅฏ, it is the solar term Winter Solstice ๅฌ่ณ where the day time is the shortest and the night time is the longest of the year. So most of the heat has been dissipated during the transition from ๅฌ่ณ to ๅฐๅฏ, and thus one would not feel too cold during ๅคงๅฏ. Hence there is a traditional saying : "ๅฐๅฏ่ๅคงๅฏ๏ผๅธธ่งไธ็จ็ฝ" (ๅฏ rhymes with ็ฝ) which means "it is so common one sees Minor Cold beats Major Cold due to such frequent occurrences."
My take is that you will see deep snow during ๅคงๅฏ and so that is the meaning of ๅคงๅฏ there.
The ancient Chinese were very perceptive and ไธๅ of ๅฐๅฏ is a good illustration. ๅ (hou) does not mean to wait in the modern usage, but it refers to a period of five days in ancient China. As a solar term is about fifteen days and thus it could be broken down into "three hou" ไธๅ i.e the first five days = first hou ไธๅ, the second five days second hou ไบๅ etc .
Below is my translation of ไธๅ of ๅฐๅฏ :
๐"ไธๅ้ๅไนก๏ผ
"During the first hou, the wild goose is flying northwards to build its home (nest)"
This really means that wild goose is aware that the heat is dissipating in the north and so time is ripe to build nest in the north now.
๐ไบๅ้นๅงๅทข๏ผ
"During the second hou, magpies can be seen everywhere in the north as they begin to build the nests."
๐ไธๅ้ๅง้ใโ
โDuring the third hou, the male ring-necked pheasant begins to chirp (for mating purpose)."
Below are additional images that illustrate the ไธๅ of ๅฐๅฏ (source : Baidu).
