The Twenty-Four Terms

The first fifteen days of the Chinese lunar month makes the first term, namely:

  Beginning of Spring （立春）:

  usually starting from the fourth or fifth of Febrary. And the first day is the Chinese New Year's Day or the onset of the Spring Festival;

 

  Rain Water （雨水）:

  from the nineteeth or twentieth of Febrary, a time when rainy seasons are setting in;

 

  Waking of Insects（惊蛰）:

 from the fifth or sixth of March, as the earth awakes from hibernation;

 

  Spring Equinox（春分） :

from the twentieth or enty-first of March;

 

  Pure Brightness（清明）:

 from the fourth or fifth of April;

 

  Grain Rain（谷雨）:

 from the twentieth or twenty-first of April;

 

  Beginning of Summer（立夏）:

 from the fifth or sixth of May;

 

  Grain Full（小满）:

 from the twentieth or twenty-first of May;

 

  Grain in Ear（芒种）:

 from the fifth or sixth of June;

 

  Summer Solstice（夏至）:

 from the twenty-first or second of June;

 

  Slight Heat（小暑）:

 from the sixth or seventh of July;

 

  Great Heat （大暑）:

from the twenty-second or third of July;

 

  Beginning of Autumn （立秋）:

from the seventh or eighth of August;

 

  Limit of Heat（处暑）:

 from the twenty-third or fourth of August;

 

  White Dew（白露）:

 from the seventh or eighth of September;

 

  Autumnal Equinox（秋分）:

 from the twenty-third or fourth of September;

 

  Cold Dew （寒露）:

from the eighth or nineth of October;

 

  Frost's Descent （霜降）:

from the twentieth-three or fourth of October;

 

  Beginning of Winter （冬至）:

from the seventh or eighth of November;

 

  Slight Snow （小雪）:

from the twenty-second or third of November;

 

  Great Snow（大雪）:

 from the seventh or eighth of December;

 

  Slight Cold（小寒）:

 from the fifth or sixth of January;

 

 Great Cold （大寒）:

from the twentieth or twenty-first of January which brings the 24-term cycle to an end.