Small Cold

Tomorrow, January 6th, is the start of the "Small Cold" solar term in the Chinese calendar.

小寒



In parallel with the months, the Chinese also divide the year into 24 "solar terms" (节气 jiéqì, where 节is a node or a segment and 气 is the air or the weather). The names of the solar terms are based on the weather conditions prevailing in Central-North China, where Chinese culture developed.

I do not know when exactly these names became established, but they are old: the same names, almost character for character, are used in Japanese, which suggests that the system was already in use in the mid-7th century, when the Japanese adopted Chinese writing. The solar terms are used in Korea, too.