The 24 Solar Terms Explained: Names, Timing, and Everyday Uses

Why does the Chinese calendar announce autumn while the weather is still hot? Why can “Minor Snow” pass without a snowflake?

The 24 solar terms divide the Sun's apparent yearly path into equal steps. Their names preserve seasonal and agricultural observations, but they do not forecast the weather in your town. Use the calendar to understand the annual sequence and prepare ahead; use local conditions to decide what to do today.

Below you will find every term in order, approximate timing, the meaning behind the name, and ways to use that information. A date lookup guide and a comparison of different definitions of autumn explain why two calendars can appear to disagree.

What a solar term measures

From Earth, the Sun appears to move through an annual path across the sky called the ecliptic. The solar terms mark intervals of 15 degrees along this 360-degree path. Each begins at the moment the Sun reaches the relevant position. The Hong Kong Observatory explains both the astronomical system and the historical central Chinese setting behind many of its weather-related names. HKO: The 24 solar terms

This explains three easily confused points:

• The basis is solar. Although the terms appear in the traditional Chinese calendar alongside lunar dates, they are determined by the Sun's position, not the Moon's phases.
• The intervals are approximate half months. Equal angular steps do not mean a fixed interval of exactly 15 days.
• The name and the forecast serve different purposes. A named stage can arrive on schedule while a particular place remains unusually hot, cold, dry, or wet.

You do not need to calculate solar positions yourself. For planning, the main skills are recognizing the order, finding the right year's dates, and separating a calendar marker from local observations.

The 24 terms in order, with their meanings

The sequence starts with Lichun, the Beginning of Spring. The timing labels below are approximate parts of Gregorian months, not fixed annual dates. The seasonal groupings follow the traditional Chinese calendar and its Northern Hemisphere setting.

English translations vary. For example, the Hong Kong Observatory uses “Spring Commences” for Lichun, “Corn Forms” for Xiaoman, and “Moderate Cold” for Xiaohan. They refer to the same terms called “Beginning of Spring,” “Grain Buds,” and “Minor Cold” here. Use the pinyin name and its position in the sequence to match different English resources.

Spring: Lichun to Guyu

• Lichun — Beginning of Spring · early February. “Li” means beginning. This is the first of four terms that open the traditional seasons, followed later by Lixia, Liqiu, and Lidong.
• Yushui — Rain Water · later February. The name turns attention to precipitation during the transition out of winter. Rain, snow, and changing ground conditions are useful things to observe locally.
• Jingzhe — Awakening of Insects · early March. The traditional imagery connects spring thunder with dormant creatures becoming active. Local observations of insects or budding plants can have their own timing.
• Chunfen — Spring Equinox · later March. Day and night are approximately equal. Paired with the autumn equinox, it helps you follow the annual change in daylight.
• Qingming — Clear and Bright · early April. The name evokes a clear spring landscape and is also familiar from tomb-sweeping customs. It brings the calendar into cultural life as well as observations of nature.
• Guyu — Grain Rain · later April. The name links rain with grain crops. It points to a farmer’s concern with water arriving when crops need it for growth.

The China Meteorological Administration explains the agricultural meaning of Guyu (in Chinese). For an urban reader, these spring names can prompt attention to the gradual return of warmth, changes in rain, and signs of growth. There is no need to put away all winter clothing on one calendar date.

Summer: Lixia to Dashu

• Lixia — Beginning of Summer · early May. The second of the four seasonal beginnings. It opens the traditional summer sequence, which moves from growing crops toward longer days and stronger heat.
• Xiaoman — Grain Buds · later May. The idea is “a little fullness”: in wheat-growing contexts, grains are filling but not yet fully ripe. “Grain Buds” is a conventional English label here, not a description of seeds just beginning to sprout. Southern farming sayings also associate the name with fuller waterways.
• Mangzhong — Grain in Ear · early June. A busy harvesting and planting period associated with awned crops. An “ear” is a grain-bearing head, and an awn is its bristle. The agricultural work differs between crop-growing regions.
• Xiazhi — Summer Solstice · later June. The Northern Hemisphere's longest-day marker. The hottest part of the year can follow later.
• Xiaoshu — Minor Heat · early July. The name signals a hot stage of the year. For daily plans, consider how intense and persistent the heat is, including conditions at night.
• Dashu — Major Heat · later July. The name intensifies the heat imagery of Xiaoshu. The pair makes it easy to remember the progression through the traditional midsummer period.

Xiaoman's regional interpretations are discussed in China Meteorological News (PDF, in Chinese). For a concrete example of local farming around Mangzhong, see the Chongqing agriculture authority's account of rice cultivation in Nanchuan (in Chinese). These examples show why a national calendar can coexist with very different local working seasons.

Autumn: Liqiu to Shuangjiang

• Liqiu — Beginning of Autumn · early August. The traditional autumn marker can arrive during continuing summer heat. Keep heat precautions tied to conditions.
• Chushu — End of Heat · later August. The name describes the easing of summer heat. It follows the formal beginning of autumn, showing that a seasonal transition unfolds across several terms.
• Bailu — White Dew · early September. The imagery draws attention to dew and nighttime conditions. Check the hours you leave home and return, as well as the warmest afternoon period.
• Qiufen — Autumn Equinox · later September. Day and night are approximately equal again. Across much of the Northern Hemisphere, nights then become longer than days.
• Hanlu — Cold Dew · early October. The name emphasizes increasing coolness. Morning and evening exposure may matter more for clothing than the afternoon high.
• Shuangjiang — Frost's Descent · later October. Frost imagery closes the autumn sequence. Alongside White Dew and Cold Dew, it traces an increasing emphasis on cool nights and changes near the ground.

This sequence explains why “autumn” can describe both a hot early stage and a much cooler later one. A plan based on “good autumn weather” still needs the date, place, and hours outdoors.

Winter: Lidong to Dahan

• Lidong — Beginning of Winter · early November. The fourth seasonal beginning introduces the winter sequence: snow imagery, the shortest-day marker, and then the cold terms.
• Xiaoxue — Minor Snow · later November. Snow enters the sequence of names. The traditional imagery emphasizes the transition toward wintry conditions.
• Daxue — Major Snow · early December. The stronger snow imagery follows Xiaoxue. Both are calendar names; the words “minor” and “major” should not be read as snowfall amounts in a forecast.
• Dongzhi — Winter Solstice · later December. The Northern Hemisphere's shortest-day marker. Increasing daylight afterward does not immediately end the cold.
• Xiaohan — Minor Cold · early January. A cold-season name. For an actual journey, temperature, wind, and time spent outside all matter.
• Dahan — Major Cold · later January. The cold imagery reaches its strongest expression at the final term. Lichun follows, beginning the cycle again.

When following this cycle from February, its last two terms fall in the next Gregorian year. A January-to-December calendar instead lists Xiaohan and Dahan first. Both arrangements describe the same repeating sequence.

How to find the date without using the wrong year or time zone

Use the Hong Kong Observatory's date and time lookup, select the Gregorian year, and find the relevant term. The displayed times use Hong Kong time, UTC+8. If you need the precise moment elsewhere, convert the time zone; near midnight, the local calendar date can differ.

A worked example: the HKO calendar for 2026 (PDF) lists Liqiu on August 7 and Qiufen on September 23, using Hong Kong dates. Someone seeing “Beginning of Autumn” in August and “Autumn Equinox” in September is seeing two different markers, not an error in one calendar. These dates are a 2026 example, not dates to reuse automatically every year.

For a cultural event, use the date and convention followed by its organizer. For clothing or an outdoor booking, also check the forecast for the relevant location and hours. An exact astronomical time cannot supply that weather information.

Why the longest day is usually not the hottest day

Temperature depends on an ongoing balance of heat gained and lost. After the summer solstice, incoming heat can still exceed heat lost, even though daylight is beginning to shorten. Average temperatures can therefore continue rising. This delay is called seasonal lag. NOAA: Solstices and seasonal temperature lag

The same distinction helps after the winter solstice: a turning point in day length does not itself establish a turning point in local temperature. Wind, cloud, land and sea conditions, and that year's weather also matter.

Day and night at an equinox are only approximately equal by ordinary sunrise-to-sunset measurements. Atmospheric refraction and the way sunrise and sunset are defined affect their measured lengths. US National Weather Service: Seasons and the equinoxes

These distinctions make the calendar more informative. It tells you which part of the annual light cycle you have reached without promising that every other seasonal change happens at the same moment.

Why “the start of autumn” can mean four different things

Different systems answer different questions:

• Liqiu: where are we in the traditional Chinese seasonal sequence? Autumn begins at this solar term in early August.
• The September equinox: when does Northern Hemisphere astronomical autumn begin in the equinox-and-solstice convention? This is a different boundary from Liqiu.
• Calendar-based meteorological autumn: which three months are grouped for seasonal weather statistics? In US National Weather Service terminology, these are September, October, and November. NWS: Definition of autumn
• A temperature-based seasonal onset: when has a location met a specified temperature criterion? Some Chinese climate reports use this approach.

For the last category, Beijing provides a historical example: its autumn start in 2025 was September 13, based on a sustained sequence of temperatures rather than one cool afternoon. The announcement came later, after enough observations were available. The official explanation on China Weather (in Chinese) describes the calculation.

These definitions serve different purposes. Choose the calendar convention relevant to an event or comparison; dress for the conditions you will actually encounter.

Using the terms outside China, and in everyday plans

The astronomical marker is the same event worldwide, allowing for local date and time. Its traditional seasonal name does not describe every climate. Southern Hemisphere seasons are opposite to those in the north; a Chinese winter date can fall in an Australian summer. NASA: What causes the seasons?

Keep the name when you are learning about the calendar or following a cultural tradition. For daily living, attach your own observations to it. You do not need to rename the terms or pretend that local weather matches their imagery.

Three useful applications are:

• Prepare before a likely change. Review clothing, heating, shade, or outdoor arrangements ahead of the usual season. Begin using them when conditions call for them.
• Make comparable nature observations. Visit the same tree or place at a similar time, recording the date, location, and what has changed. A short sequence of observations is more useful than treating one photograph as proof of a whole season's behavior.
• Keep food customs and health claims separate. A traditional dish can be enjoyed for flavor or cultural meaning. A claim that a tea, herb, or supplement treats a symptom needs separate evidence about the ingredients, intended users, and proposed effect.

For example, if Liqiu arrives before a hot weekend outing, the calendar tells you the traditional season has changed. The forecast, shade along the route, and hours outdoors tell you how to prepare for the outing. Both pieces of information can be correct; they answer different questions.