Start of Winter, or Lidong, is the 19th solar term and the opening chapter of winter, beginning around November 7th and concluding around November 22nd, when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 225°. It marks the moment when autumn's lingering chill finally settles into something deeper: the last leaves let go their hold, the air turns thin and clear, and the world draws inward toward winter's stillness. The days still offer a faint warmth at noon, but dusk falls early and sharp, and the northern wind carries the clean, metallic scent of bare branches and frosted ground.
Agriculturally, Lidong is a season of final gathering and deliberate rest. In the north, the fields are being cleared and the soil turned over to sleep; cabbages are buried in cellars, onions are braided and hung, and the last of the apples are stored away before the hard freeze sets in. In the south, the "three autumns" work is winding down—late rice is threshed, winter wheat and rapeseed are tucked into the earth, and the cotton fields are picked clean before the first true frost can do its damage. Beyond the fields, Lidong is a time for eating dumplings in the north to keep the ears from freezing, for brewing and sipping warming wines in the south, and for gathering with family around a steaming pot while the year's last colors fade quietly from the hills.
By Yuan Ruichen/ Zhang Yishuo
