Grain in Beard: Say Farewell to the Flower Fairies, 
Welcome the Busy Season of Harvesting, Planting and Farming

Those who are familiar with Dream of the Red Chamber (aka The Story of the Stone, or A dream of the Red Mansion 紅樓夢) should remember the scenes of Lin Daiyu (林黛玉) burying fallen petals. The first time took place in Chapter 23 during late Spring in the third month, while the second time took place in Chapter 27 during Grain in Beard (Note: this is the official translation from Chinese Meteorological Administration of Mangzhong 芒種, which is also called Grain in Ear), where the sorrowful and moving poem Burial of Fallen Flowers (葬花吟) is found. Cao Xueqin (曹雪芹，1715-1763) wrote, “Next day was the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month, when the festival of Grain In Beard was due to fall at two o’clock in the afternoon. It has been an ancient tradition to give various offerings to the flower Goddesses on this day. As Grain in Beard marks the beginning of summer; the flower Goddesses have to leave at the time when flower petals fall, therefore one needs to give the farewell banquet to the flower Goddesses.” （至次日乃是四月二十六日，原來這日未時交芒種節。尚古風俗：凡交芒種節的這日，都要設擺各色禮物，祭餞花神，言芒種一過，便是夏日了，眾花皆卸，花神退位，須要餞行。）Chapter 27 Daiyu Buries Fallen Flowers is outstanding because of its unique writing technique that brings in a special flair in literal sense, as Wang Fuzhi (王夫之1619-1692) said, “Describing sorrow with joyful scene and describing joy with sorrowful scene can enhance the mood twofold.” (以樂景寫哀，以哀景寫樂，一倍增其哀樂。) Cao Xueqin depicted the joyful and bustling scene of women in Grand View Garden (Daguanyuan 大觀園) in the festival of Grain In Beard. In this chapter, Cao firstly described the maids joyfully and busily preparing the decorations for the Grain in Beard celebration, for example, using willow branches to make toy litter, and using silk gauze fabrics to weave colour flags. Then the maids have to mount these decorations on every tree and every blossoming branch with colour threads, so that “In the Garden, the colour ribbons are waving everywhere as the flowers do” (original quote: 滿園裏繡帶飄颻，花枝招展).However, Jia Baoyu (賈寶玉) could not find Lin Daiyu (林黛玉) (i.e., she is the reincarnation of the fairy of red ribbon grass 絳珠仙草 in the story.) in this celebrating crowd of young beautiful women. Therefore, he searched for Lin and found her at the back of the hillside, burying the fallen flower petals, crying and murmuring the poem Burial of Fallen Flowers. The writing technique to juxtapose the joyful scenario with the sorrow of Lin successfully impresses the readers with the tragic character of Lin’s. Placing the Burial of Fallen Flowers in such a joyful atmosphere further enhances its artistic appeal.

From cultural perspective, the information from Chapter 27 of Dream of the Red Chamber successfully helps contemporary readers to understand the rituals and knowledge related to solar term of Grain In Beard. For example, under normal circumstances, Grain In Beard mostly falls in the fifth month of the lunar calendar, so it is also called Festival of the Fifth Month. However, if the beginning of Spring falls early or encounters intercalary month, the date of Grain in time when Grain In Beard would change. As Cao Xueqin mentioned, “In the two o’clock of the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month comes the festival of Grain in Beard”. In that case, it was already the end of the early summer. This year (2023) is Guimao (癸卯) year, the fortieth term of the Chinese sexagenary cycle, in which the leap month occurs in the second month in lunar calendar. Therefore, in this year Grain In Beard is not in the fifth month in the lunar calendar, but in 19^th of the fourth month (6^th of June in Western Calendar). Another example is the old ritual related to the flower goddesses. The second day of the second month in lunar calendar is regarded as “the birthday of flowers”, and is called “festival of welcoming the flower goddesses” (花朝節). The festival of Grain In Beard is the time when flower goddesses are going home and flower petals are falling. At that time, there are thanks-giving rites for farewelling flower goddesses. Some scholars consider the scenarios depicted in Cao Xueqin’s chapter on farewelling flower goddesses as the activities found in festival of welcoming the flower goddesses. In such case, the joy was to contrast the uniqueness of Lin Daiyu’s act to say farewell to the flower goddess with the mourning poem Burial of Fallen Flowers.

With further speculation, Cao Xueqin seems to be fond of the solar term Grain In Beard. There are many snapshots in Dream of the Red Chamber that mentioned Grain in Beard. For example, in Chapter 27, another classic scenario is “Xue Baochai chasing the butterflies” (寶釵撲蝶). According to Zhou Ruchang (周汝昌), a renowned scholar of Dream of the Red Chamber, the birthday of Jai Baoyu (賈寶玉, the protagonist) is exactly the day of Grain in Beard. Hence, the classic scenes in Dream of the Red Chamber such as “Xiangyun drunken in Baoyu’s birthday festival” (湘雲醉酒) in Chapter 62, and “Miaoyu sending birthday greetings to Baoyu” (妙玉傳貼) in Chapter 63 are all associated with the festival of Grain in Beard. It is a pity that the custom of saying farewell to the flower goddess no longer exists. Therefore, the tradition of rituals related to Grain in Beard as the festival in the fifth lunar month no longer survives in modern era. Therefore, the solar term Grain in Beard has sunk into oblivion. Even the lovers of the scene Daiyu Buries Fallen Flowers in Dream of the Red Chamber seldom pay attention to the relationship between the poem Burial of Fallen Flower Petals and the solar term Grain in Beard.

Perhaps the fondness of Cao Xueqin for Grain in Beard is also based on the literal structure of Dream of the Red Chamber. A plot from Chapter 62 mentioned that Jai Baoyu’s sister, Jia Tanchun (賈探春) chatted with other maids on different person’s birthday except the birthday of Lin Daiyu, claiming that “Oh, no one here has birthday in the second month”. A maid Hua Xiren (花襲人) replied, “How come nobody? Sister Lin’s birthday is exactly on the 12th day of the second month” (二月十二是林妹妹，怎麼沒人？). It can be seen that Lin Dayiyu’s birthday was very close to the Birthday of the flowers. Therefore, it is likely that Lin Daiyu’s birthday represents the festival of welcoming the flower goddesses, while Jia Baoyu’s birthday is the festival of Grain In Beard when flower goddesses are returning home. This combination of welcoming and saying farewell is the mastery technique of Cao Xueqin. My thought on Cao Xueqin is extended to another prominent figure with the same family name of Cao, Cao Juren (曹聚仁, 1900-1972), whose work can help us to understand other aspects of the solar term Grain in Beard.

In the 1930s,Shanghai Mass Magazine (上海群眾雜誌公司) founded Grain In Beard, a literal magazine for essays. The title was decided collaboratively by Cao Juren and co-editor in Chief Xu Maoyong (徐懋庸,1911-1977. As the magazine was targeted to the general public, the style of writing is close to daily language used by general public. It is worth-noticing that the cover of the inaugural issue of Grain in Beard was adopting the traditional Spring Cattle & Cowherd Diagram in Chinese Almanac, including farmers, farm cattle and spring willows which were all related to agricultural activities of the general public. The founder of the magazine publication used the picture of spring farming for the magazine titled with Grain In Beard in the summer, the message is very clear: As busy as in the spring, summer is a season for farmers who have to keep sowing seeds and expect harvest. This is also the expectation of the editors-in-chief and the promise that the magazine would keep on serving the general public.

Hence the two Caos are providing descriptions of Grain In Beard from different angles. Cao Xueqin’s description of various girls saying farewell to the flower goddesses is about the rituals related to the solar term, while Cao Juren’s coining of the title of Grain In Beard for a literal magazine highlights the agricultural aspects related to the solar term and the life of the general public at the time. Farmers are busy in the spring but would be even busier at the time of Grain in Beard.

In Dairy of Mr. Lan Zhenzi (懶真子錄), Ma, Yongqing (馬永卿, ? -1136) wrote, “The festival of Grain In Beard in the fifth month refers to the commencement of wheat harvest and the latest moment of sowing seeds (所謂芒種五月節者，謂麥至是而始可收，稻過是而不可種。)”. This is echoing what the folk proverb says, “Grain In Beard is both the period for harvesting and sowing seeds (芒種芒種，連收帶種).”This means that in this season, farmers have to harvest the ripen wheat and sow seedlings of rice simultaneously. 

The Festival of Grain In Beard in the Fifth Month (芒種五月節), a poem by poet Yuan Zhen (元稹，779-831) wrote, “We greet each other by asking about situation of silkworms and wheats, it is fortunate that we can keep the warm relationship with each other (相逢問蠶麥，幸得稱人情)”This is the reference to the harvest of wheat. In a famous poem by Bai Juyi (白居易，772-846) titled Watching famers harvesting wheats (觀刈麥), it is said in its opening sentences, “famers seldom have spare time. In the fifth month of the calendar, the workload is even doubled (田家少閒月， 五月人倍忙).” It is because this is the harvest time when “ripened wheat covers the ridges of the field with yellow linings(小麥覆隴黃)”. Therefore, farmers are extremely tired and exhausted: “the feet is like steamed by the air flow from the burning earth, the back is burnt with the sun stroke”. (足蒸暑土氣，背灼炎天光).

Lu You (陸游，1125-1210) wrote in his poem Rain at the time (時雨), “Rain falls in the time of Grain in Beard, everywhere we see farmers planting rice seedling. Every family can eat delicious wheat rice while songs of picking water chestnuts can be heard everywhere (時雨及芒種，四野皆插秧。家家麥飯美，處處菱歌長。).”

Therefore, there have been different interpretations concerning the naming of Grain in Beard (Mang Zhong 芒種). The two more common ones are as follows. The first interpretation is that wheat which has awns (slender, bristle like attachment of a wheat plant) is being harvested (awns here is Mang 芒 in Chinese character). Farmers are also busy planting rice seedlings (Zhong, 種 in the name). Another interpretation is that Mang (芒) is a synonym to busy (忙，which is also pronounced as Mang) in farming (Zhong), indicating that farmers are busy at planting. No matter which interpretation, the time of the solar term Grain In Beard is really the busiest time for farmers. Thus, there is a saying “Three things in the summer” (三夏), i.e., “Harvest in summer, Planting in summer, and farming in summer” （夏收夏種夏管）.

Plum rain (the Chinese name for rainfall in early summer season) is also closely related to the solar term of Grain In Beard. The name is coined in the middle and lower course of Yangtze River to describe the rainfall at the time when green plums ripe. As green plums are sour, there comes the practice of cooking plums or adding plums in drinks as a refreshment for farmers after the busy farming work. The scholars and writers prefer heating rice wine with green plums. For example, Yan Shu (晏殊，991-1055) described in his poem Telling my heart (訴衷情) that “Heating rice wine with green plums when they are fresh in the season” (青梅煮酒鬥時新), urging others to have a timely tasting of the fresh green plums in the hot rice wine. Another example is the scene of“Cao Cao and Liu Bei chat about heroes when they heat the rice wine with green plums” (煮酒論英雄) in Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義), which is an all-time classic.

Apparently, nowadays we seldom do farm work by ourselves and it is difficult for us to realize the business and pain during the time of harvesting, planting and farming, but the classic writing of ancient writers may somewhat rejuvenate a bit of sensitivity towards the solar term Grain in Beard.

Reference:

Book

1. 周汝昌：《年月無虛》，《紅樓奪目紅》，北京：作家出版社，2003年版。

2. 曹雪芹、高鶚：《紅樓夢》，北京：人民文學出版社， 1982 年版。

Journal Article

1. 李鳳能：〈「種之芒種」不含種麥〉，《文史雜誌》，第3期（2018年）。

2. 曹立波：〈生日與《紅樓夢》婚戀故事的藝術構思——從芒種餞花與怡紅壽宴談起〉，《紅樓夢學刊》，第6輯（2016年）。

3. 張陽：〈漫談《芒種》半月刊〉，《上海魯迅研究》，第1期（2020年）。

4. 陳勤建：〈二十四節氣裏的中國智慧〉，《書城》，第3期（2023年）。