Greater Snow:
The frozen earth cannot keep inspirations from flying high

“Things remain silent until the spring returns (萬物靜默待春歸)” was adopted as the subheadings of my article on “The Beginning of Winter (〈立冬〉)”. One may wonder why one has to wait for the “returning of the spring (待春歸)” when the winter just begins? I would like to clarify a bit on the process of writing here. I would like to present an article to the readers of the official website of Loke Kok Kuen Chinese Cultural Legacy Research Trust when weather was becoming colder so as to deliver my best wishes with voiceless words. In hindsight, I found that literature that took the theme of winter was mostly associated with the spring. In the magnum opus Ode to the West Wind written by P.B. Shelley (1792-1822), a renowned poet to Chinese through the translation by Zha Liangzheng (查良錚，1918-1977), it says, “Be through my lips to unawaken earth. The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind! If the winter comes, can the spring be far behind?” On the other hand, in the Two Poems written During Sightseeing at night (〈晚望二首〉) written by Yang Wanli (楊萬里, 1127-1206), a famous ancient Chinese poet in Song Dynasty, it says, “In this month, it is called A small spring, but spring does not arrive yet. The solar term is called Greater Snow, but there is no snow yet (月是小春春未生，節名大雪雪何曾).” The first sentence described the tenth month in the lunar year as the month amid winter, when the spring is yet to arrive. However, the month was often nicknamed as the Small Spring (小春月) as temperature during a period in the Beginning of Winter (立冬) and Lesser Snow (小雪) often rebounds, which makes people feel like spring is coming. Therefore, the tenth month in Chinese lunar calendar is often called Sunny Small Spring (小陽春) or simply called Small Spring (小春). It is obvious that the cold temperature in the winter triggers people’s yearning for the spring, which is a common psychological phenomenon.

In the above poem from Yang Wanli , the second phrase mentioned the solar term of Greater Snow (大雪), the weather of which does not exactly match with the name of the solar term – It does not necessarily snow in Greater Snow. Even if it does, it might not be a heavy one either. Modern scholars on solar terms suggested that Greater Snow is the same as Lesser Snow (小雪), in the sense that they are both climatic concepts in the traditional cultural system of solar terms, which is not absolutely equivalent to the stronger snow phenomena in the meteorological sense. Nonetheless, the low temperature in Greater Snow indeed increases the chance of snowing. Therefore, in his book Annotation to the seventy-two natural phenomena and corresponding mandatories of monthly practices (《月令七十二候集解》) written by Wu Cheng (吳澄, 1249-1333), it says, “as Greater Snow is the solar term that marks the beginning of the eleventh month. Here, snow is at its full span (Cheng, 盛) (至此而雪盛也)”, in which the Chinese character Cheng (盛) means very large as well as very frequent. From popular adages among Chinese, the solar term of Greater Snow implies that the temperature becomes lower, which initiates people to think about the spring. For example, “if the Greater Snow is not cold, the forthcoming Spring must be cold (大雪不凍倒春寒)”, “Sunny Greater Snow without Snowing implies that there will be even more snow in the Beginning of Spring (大雪晴天，立春雪多)”, “if the Greater Snow is not cold, flowers might not blossom in the Waking of Insects (大雪不凍，驚蟄不開)”. These examples suggest that not only the four seasons, but also the solar terms differ. Nonetheless, the association of winter with spring, rooted from the belief that both are caused by the alternation between Yin and Yang energy flows in the nature, best represents the structural thinking among ancient Chinese people on the synthetic quality of the nature,

Speaking of issues about thinking, it reminds me of a controversial event some years ago. A teacher who was teaching language in a primary school in a famous big city set a question in the examination: “What does ice turn to after it melts?” While a majority of students answered “water” (which was the correct answer in the marking scheme), a student wrote “the spring” and was regarded as wrong. However, this was not a science lesson. Why should we regard the melting of the ice from the winter signifying the coming of the spring as wrong?  As early as in the Southern Dynasties, Xie Huilian (謝惠連, 397-433) wrote in his famous An Ode to Snow (〈雪賦〉) that “Who has ever seen the snow on the stairways shines in the sunny spring (君寧見階上之白雪，豈鮮耀於陽春)?” Don’t we see that the message underlying this phase, is obviously “after the melting of winter snow, here comes the spring”? Therefore, fluidity in thinking represents the crystallization of human civilization. Thus, learning traditional culture may be a way to explore our imagination and enhance our capacity in creation.

Let us give another example on the association between winter snow and the scenario in springtime. It is quoted in a chapter on Famous Quote in A New Account of the Tales of the World（《世說新語‧言語》）that in a winter’s day which was snowing, Xie An (謝安, 320-385, the prime minister at the time) organized a big gathering among clans members to share one’s opinions about poems and essays. Later the snow became heavier, and Xie An was in such a high spirit that he raised a topic for literary improvisation, “What resembles the white snowflakes (白雪紛紛何所似)?” His nephew answered, “it is somewhat like throwing salt in the air (撒鹽空中差可擬).” His niece Xie Daoyun (謝道韞，？-？) then replied, “but more appropriately it looks like wallow calkins blew up in the air (未若柳絮因風起).” Xie Daoyun was a famous female writer in Chinese history. She adopted the scenario in the spring (wallow calkins blown up in the air) to describe snowflakes in the winter, which represented her literary skills and richness in imagination. Therefore, she was highly regarded by Xie An, which was recorded in this phrase: “The Duke was overjoyed and laughed (公大笑樂)”. Since then, wallow calkins (柳絮) became a term to signify this story, it was frequently adopted to denote snowflake, female writers, or a remarkable phrase in literature.

This article was written at a time when farmer’s schedule was a bit looser, and all farm work was finished. So, the article did not mention in the sweat and toil of farmers, and the food culture but only focused on the association between the winter and the spring. These examples suggested that the thinking about the relationship between the cold seasons and the warm periods may not only give us hope and light for the future, but also help us to develop our openness and imagination. Thus, we can immerse ourselves in the beautiful rhythmic changes in the vicissitudes of the seasons. Our life is wonderful. It is all about living in the rhythm of breathing in and breathing out. Similarly, how could the essence of the cosmos be omitted from the circularity between the end and the beginning?

Reference:

Book

1. 余嘉錫（1884-1955）撰，周祖謨、余淑宜整理：《世說新語箋疏》（北京：中華書局，1983年），頁131。

2. 吳之振（1640-1717）等選，管庭芳、蔣光煦補：《宋詩鈔》（北京：中華書局，1986年），頁2053。

3. （英）雪萊（P.B. Shelley，1792-1822）著，查良錚譯：《雪萊抒情詩選》（北京：人民文學出版社，1958年），頁76。

4. 蕭統（501-531）編，張啟成、徐達等譯註：《文選全譯》（貴陽：貴州人民出版社，1994年），頁753。