Preserving China’s ancient solar system
New alliance to preserve ancient China’s 24-term calendar, its cultural significance
AChinese idiom — “birth in spring, growth in summer, harvest in autumn, and storage in winter” — shows Chinese people’s understanding of time and the pattern of agriculture. They also divided the year into 24 solar terms which make up the traditional Chinese lunar calendar and used the 24 solar terms to guide not just agricultural activities but their daily life.
“The 24 solar terms are a knowledge system about time, summarized by ancient Chinese people through observing the annual motion of the sun. Originating in China several thousand years ago, they contain the philosophical thought of doing things in tune with the times, and show Chinese people’s desire to achieve harmony with nature,” said Yu Kangzhen, vice-minister of agriculture and rural affairs, during a meeting at China Agricultural Museum on Dec 19.
The establishment of the Twenty-four Solar Terms Protection and Inheritance Alliance, as an unincorporated organization to protect and inherit cultural heritage associated with the calendar, was also announced at the event.
Initiated by China Agricultural Museum, 51 other institutions joined the alliance, including research institutions, representative communities, museums and media.
In 2006, the 24 solar terms were listed as a national-level intangible cultural heritage in China, and they were added to the UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list in 2016.
Sui Bin, director-general of the alliance, said: “Since the 24 solar terms achieved recognition from UNESCO, protection and promotional work pertaining to them flourished. Scholars conducted more research, gave lectures and wrote books. Institutions organized more seminars and exhibitions, and companies promoted more cultural and creative products. They all paved the way for the establishment of the alliance.
“We came up with the idea to establish the alliance when we applied the terms to be listed by UNESCO, and received positive responses from many other institutions. We want to promote and protect traditional culture, as well as develop it in a creative way, through our joint efforts.”
Ten representative communities joined the alliance, and they introduced their projects to promote culture related to the 24 solar terms.
Neixiang county, Henan province, has a history of performing dachunniu (“beating the spring cow”) to celebrate the beginning of spring, which also means the start of spring plowing.
In ancient times, the government office was opened to the public at the beginning of spring, people put statues of cows, made from mud, in the offices of local officials, who would whip the cows with a strap in the hope of manifesting a good harvest.
The county plans to promote the culture of the solar terms by promoting this custom.
“We had planned to give a dachunniu show on the beginning of spring this year (2020), and organized an exhibition about the solar terms, but they were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we resorted to an online exhibition to perform the custom. In August, we started a training course about it, and in September, we organized documents, photos and videos about the practice to form a database,” said Li Zongya, deputy director of a museum located at the site of Neixiang county’s government office in ancient times.
A competition to design patterns and derivative products related to the 24 solar terms was held last year by China Agricultural Museum and Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, and award winners were honored at the conference.
Second prize went to Wei Wei, a designer who produced a long painting depicting folk customs related to each term, as well as showing people, animals and food. She created a female character to carry the narrative of the picture, as the viewer witnesses the changing of the terms and passing of time through her journey.
“When creating this painting, I realized that agriculture exerts an intense influence on Chinese people’s life. For example, in many places, people have the custom of celebrating at the beginning of winter. When winter comes, agricultural activities end, so people wear new clothes to greet each other. It means many folk customs are closely linked to agricultural activities,” said Wei.
She also designed cultural and creative products, such as bags, fans and jigsaw puzzles, with patterns based on her painting.
Liu Xiaofeng, a professor at Tsinghua University, pointed out further areas of the solar terms that are worth studying. For example, since the solar terms come from ancient Chinese people’s observation of the sun’s motion, people in many other countries also have a similar understanding of time. He suggests the undertaking of comparison studies to better understand other cultures. He also wants to delve into the influence the system of the solar terms had in nearby countries, like Japan, Vietnam and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“Our establishment of this alliance is a starting point, but there is a long way to go. The 24 solar terms are a cultural treasure, so we want to brush away the dust of history, and restore its gloss,” said Liu.