Beginning of Winter | Drizzle brings chill without frost, half green and yellow leaves before the courtyard

At 18:45 Beijing time on November 7, 2022, the Beginning of Winter solar term will arrive. Beginning of Winter is the first solar term of winter. Water begins to freeze, the ground starts to harden, and the weather gets colder day by day. Plants wither, hibernating insects rest, and all living things tend to pause their activities. The splendid flowers gradually fade, and the world becomes increasingly cold and desolate. The long winter begins from this point. At this time, the cold air in the north has already gained considerable strength and is gradually moving southward. Water surfaces start to freeze, and the land begins to harden; for areas south of the Yangtze River, the winter feeling will not come until the end of November.

Ancient people divided each of the twenty-four solar terms into three parts, each lasting five days, called "hou," to describe the climatic changes of each solar term. The three "hou" of Beginning of Winter are: "First hou: water begins to freeze; second hou: the ground begins to harden; third hou: pheasants enter the big water and become clams." The first two "hou" directly reflect the weather changes around the Beginning of Winter. The third "hou" is quite interesting. The pheasant is a wild chicken or can refer to large birds, while the clam is a large shellfish. According to the saying "harvest in autumn and store in winter," after the Beginning of Winter, ancient people noticed that large birds in the sky were rarely seen, while people by the sea found large clams appearing in the water. Because the patterns on the clam shells somewhat resemble the feathers of pheasants, ancient people linked the two, believing that pheasants ran into the water and turned into clams. This reflects the ancient understanding of the cyclical nature of life and the endless cycle of birth and renewal between heaven and earth.

After the Beginning of Winter, the weather is cold, which easily affects the human endocrine system. It is advisable to enhance the body's ability to resist cold and moderately supplement nutrition; ensuring sufficient sleep helps the body's yang energy to flourish, keeping the mind clear and alert; during exercise, attention should be paid to keeping warm to prevent colds, but avoid wearing overly thick clothing—slight sweating is preferable. People with respiratory diseases should choose times with ample sunlight for outdoor exercise to avoid cold stimuli that may trigger old illnesses.

After the Beginning of Winter, the body's resistance is relatively weak, so nutritional supplementation is naturally needed. Therefore, ancient people had the custom of "supplementing in winter as winter begins." Diet should be light but include high-calorie foods, and eat plenty of fresh vegetables to avoid vitamin deficiency. Beef, mutton, black-bone chicken, soy milk, milk, radish, wood ear mushrooms, tofu, celery, potatoes, spinach, apples, longan, and others are suitable foods after the Beginning of Winter; additionally, nuts such as peanuts, walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds can be eaten more; at the same time, cold-natured foods like seafood should be eaten less. For dietary therapy, black sesame porridge and cordyceps old duck soup can be consumed to nourish the liver and kidneys.

Eating tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) during the Beginning of Winter symbolizes reunion and completeness. Tangyuan, which are relatively high in calories, can ensure sufficient energy supply for the body. In the south, there are pork lard meatballs, while in the north, there are sweet sugar yuanxiao, both full of carbohydrates and energy; eating one warms you for half a day. In many northern regions, there is also the custom of eating dumplings during the Beginning of Winter. Eating dumplings is a tradition in many ancient festivals and solar terms. It is generally believed that dumplings are a homophone of "jiaozi," symbolizing the transition of seasons and the meeting of old and new years, so there is often a custom of eating dumplings at these times.