Today is the beginning of autumn in the twenty-four solar terms in China. We call it Liqiu , which means the very start of the Autumn season. In ancient China, laborers cultivate and harvest according to the twenty-four solar terms so as to ensure a good harvest. In the traditional sense, autumn begins from today. However, Chinese people  have always talked about the "Autumn Tiger", which means it is still very hot throughout the country. This is because it is still in midsummer. 

Drying crops

Liqiu represents the coming of the harvest season. After that, the crops gradually mature in the less flat complex terrain in southern mountain areas.  In order to prevent the harvest of crop mold, farmers use their own houses, windowsills, roofs to rack or hang crops. It gradually formed a "sunshine autumn" custom.

Biting the Autumn

People will eat watermelon or muskmelon today, which symbolizes a grasp of autumn after the sweltering summer and welcoming the cool autumn.

Fleshing out in autumn

An old saying in China says: The start of Autumn is the right time to supplement nutrition and to focus on health. It means that due to hot summer, people are easy to lose appetite and  energy. It is the time for them to enter the harvest season. People usually eat some stewed meat, roast duck, to nourish themselves from today.

Health Preservation

Autumn is the harvest season, as well as the time of big changes in body metabolism. According to the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, food can ease the dryness of the human body and nourish them.

At the beginning of autumn, you will see crickets everywhere in Ningjin County, Shandong Province, in the fields, the woods, the ravines, and open spaces in village houses. Cricket lovers from all over the country approach to Ningjin during this period of time. Let’s have some fun in Ningjin and find the insect king of your own.

Special thanks to: CNC