The Beginning of Autumn :
A Falling Leaf startles our Heart when Nights begin to cool down

Time flies, when I finished the last article on the Greater Heat, the middle of the year passed. This is the twelveth of the twenty four solar terms, which is just the middle among them. For me, it is inevitable that I am feeling sentimental as I am writing about the solar term of the beginning of autumn: I feel that whenever I write a character, time slips away quickly, when a thought pops up in “this moment”, it is already “the past”.

The future is full of possibilities for sure. Nonetheless, the “past” of our historical traditions is as captivating as well. For example, the shades of autumn are evident in classics of Chinese literature: In Book of Odes (詩經, also called Shih Jing, trans. James Legge, 1876), we found, “The reeds and rushes are deeply green, and the white dew turns into hoarfrost” (蒹葭蒼蒼，白露為霜); while in The Songs of Chu (楚辭) (trans. Gopal Sukhu, 2017), we found, “The autumn wind blows and makes waves on Tung-t'ing, bringing down the leaves from the trees”. In Western Jin Dynasty (265-317), poet Zhang Jiying (張季鷹, ?-?) wrote about his homesickness, “When I find wind blows in the autumn, I miss Yangzhe River area and its water bamboo, vegetable soup, and sea bass pot”(因見秋風起，乃思吳中菰菜、蒓羹、鱸魚膾).

Even in modern Chinese literature, famous writer Yu Dafu (郁達夫, 1896-1945) made a brilliant description of the beautiful scenary of the autumn in his essay Autumn in an Ancient Capital (古都的秋), “In each year, during the autumn, we will think about reed catkins at the Taoran Pavilion, shadows of the willow trees in the Diao Yu Terrace, chirping insects in Western Hill, the reflection of the moon in the Jade Fountain, and bells ringing at Tan Zhe Temple.” We can see from these descriptions that autumn is regarded as beautiful as spring. Thus, both are inspiring and muse-provoking for writers.

According to the composition of twenty-four solar terms, there are four signature solar terms named with “Li” (立, Beginning) that remind us of the division of the four seasons (these are called “Shi Li”, four beginning solar terms), namely “Lichun” (立春, the Beginniing of Spring), “Lixia” (立夏, the Beginning of Summer), “Liqiu” (立秋, the Beginning of Autumn), and “Lidong” (立冬,the Beginning of Winter). The character Li (立) means beginning. Although the hot weather is not totally gone in the solar term of the Beginning of Autumn, but ancient Chinese discovered that the changing valence among Yang Qi (陽氣, the masculine Qi) and Yin Qi (陰氣, the feminine Qi) is becoming more obvious.

In the Beginning of the summer (夏至), one observes the beginning of the revival of Yin Qi (which is coined as Yiyin 一陰). Until the Beginning of Autumn, Yin qi gradually grows while Yang qi gradually diminishes, giving rise to the maturity of crops and all products of the field. The “Shou”(收) in Qiushou (秋收) has two meanings : the first meaning is “harvest” while the second meaning is “reserved”. This is echoing the words of Guanzi (管子), “Autumn is the time when Yinqi is beginning to shed on, therefore everything will become more reserved”. In Explaining the Seventy-Two Signs of Various Months (月令七十二候集解) in Yuan Dynasty (1276-1368), it was also mentioned that “In autumn, we collect, and various creatures begin to become more reserved”(秋，揫也，物於此而揫斂也).

There is another significant change with the arrival of the Beginning of Autumn: while the coming of hot wind is the sign of Lesser Heat, cool breeze is the first sign of the arrival of the Beginning of Autumn. In Yellow River Basin and Central Plain Region of China, the weather is still hot in the day time, but when the night comes, one can easily feel the cool breeze. In contrast, those who live in the Yangtze river basin and southern China are not likely to experience that. However, people living in regions like Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei province can experience the refreshing cool breezes whenever they open the windows in the morning or stroll on the riverside. Thus, a proverb says, “when autumn arrives in the morning, we soon feel the chill at night” (早上立了秋, 晚上涼颼颼). That moment reminds me of my favourite quote from poet Xin Qiji (辛棄疾, 1140-1207) immediately pops up on my mind: “Well, I can only say, the weather is cool now, what a great autumn!”(卻道天涼好個秋).

The Beginning of Autumn always comes with cool breezes. Therefore, many ancient Chinese poets feel sentimental and express their emotion through poetry. Taking the golden era of poetry, Tang Dynasty (618-907), as an example, Du Fu (杜甫, 712-770) wrote in Created in the Raining Garden in the Beginning of Autumn (立秋雨院中有作), “The trees are wet, cool wind enters, the stream is clamoring and the moisture is floating” (樹濕風涼進，江喧水氣浮). Bai Juyi (白居易, 772-846) wrote in his poem “Inspired by a dream in the night of the Beginning of Autumn”, “Tonight comes with the cool winds, I feel relaxed and chill-out”. (夕涼飆起，閒境入幽情). Yuan Zhen (元稹, 779-831) created a series of poems titled Poems devoted for the twenty four solar terms (詠廿四氣詩). In one of the poems The Beginning of Autumn and the festival in the seventh month (立秋七月節), we find sentences like “cool breeze welcomes the autumn in a low-key manner” (涼吹暗迎秋), “white dew drops on the realm of the woods” (白露滴林頭), and “a falling leaf startles our heart” (一葉驚心緒). These indicate that the poet is very vigilant and sensitive, thus he could fully describe the autumn breeze even the heat has not gone yet.

Ancient Chinese believed that everything in the world could be sympathic with each other (感應). They were good at observing changes in signs of the nature and immediately knew the transformation of the seasons.

The wisdom of the twenty-four solar-term system is represented by ancient Chinese’s capacity to associate the seasonal changes with the philosophy related to Yin and Yang Qi (陰陽之氣), instead of being satisfied with the shallow phenomena based on our senses. For example, ancient Chinese believed that the leaves of trees could be sympathetic with changing Qi of the heaven and earth, therefore, in the Chapter on “Teaching about the mountains” (說山訓) of the book Huainanzi (淮南子), he wrote: “Seeing a single leaf falling down, we can know that the year is coming to an end very soon” (見一葉落而知歲之將暮). Based on this, people believed that sycamore trees knew autumn the best. Another example is The Mirror of Flowers (花鏡) written by Chen Haozi (陳淏子, circa 1612-?) in which wrote, “The leaves from sycamore tree really know the time. This is because when the Beginning of Autumn comes, a syncamore tree immediately sheds a leaf” (能知歲時… 至立秋期，一葉先墜). This is the allusion of A Poem for the red sycamore leaf (紅葉題詩) in Qing Dynasty Poetry collection The Book of Our People (子弟書): “The falling of a sycamore leaf tells everyone that the autumn has come” (梧桐一葉落，天下盡知秋). Referring back to Yuan Zhen’s quote “A Falling Leaf Startles our Heart” (一葉驚心緒), a falling leaf is a metaphor to remind people that time is running fast, it will soon be the end of the year. The swift passage of time is really startling. By the same token, the customs during the Beginning of Autumn are rooted from Ancient Chinese’s understanding of the transition of Yin and Yang Qi. For example, in ancient times, it was believed that when farmers sow seeds in the spring, it matches the upward trajectory of Yang Qi, in which everything is beginning to emerge and grow. Therefore, one needs to worship the earth god to seek for the god’s blessings.

In ancient times, there were festivals “Chun She” (春社) in the spring and “Qiu She” (秋社) in the autumn. The Qiu She is a worshipping ceremony held on the fifth cycle of Wu (戊) in ten Heavenly Stem calendars (within the beginning five days after the Beginning of Autumn). At that time, the harvest had already been completed, new crops had been collected and stored. Therefore, people gave offerings to thank for the protection of the earth god and celebrate the years’ hard work which brought about abundance of farm products.

Wu Zimu (吳自牧, ?- circa 1270) wrote in A Dream of Sorghum (夢粱錄), “In the day of Qiu She, the central government as well as county officials built alters in various communities so that one could pray for the spring and thank god for the autumn”(秋社日，朝廷及州縣差官祭社稷於壇，蓋春祈而秋報也). Poet Lu You (陸遊, 1125-1210) wrote in Qiu She (秋社) that “People are competing with each other to see who makes the loudest drum beats in the temple for the Qiu She” (社鼓咚咚賽廟回). One could approximately feel the hustle and bustle scene of the festival.

The Beginning of Autumn not only implies the changing valence of the Yang and Yin qi, but also a reminder for everyone to take care of one’s own balance of Yang and Yi qi in the body. Ancient Chinese had the tradition of Tie Qiu Biao (貼秋膘, gaining weight after the autumn arrives). This means that during the time around the Beginning of Autumn, one needs to obtain extra nutritions from various supplements. As ancient medical text Suwen (素問, a chapter in Yellow Emperor’s Text on Internal Medicine 黃帝內經) quotes, “Yang Qi and Yin Qi are the foundations of everything”. Therefore, one needs to foster Yang Qi in the spring and the summer, while one needs to foster Yin Qi in the autumn and the winter. After a long hot summer, it is said that one “becomes weak even one is not ill yet” (無病三分虛). Therefore, after the Beginning of the Autumn”, taking in extra nutrition in an appropriate manner can help one to restore body energy, and keep one’s organs, blood and spirit in a good condition. Also, this can help us to reserve enough energy for the cold winter.

This tradition of Tie Qiu Biao is still prevalent in the cold North-Eastern provinces and the Huabei areas. I lived in Beijing for some years. At that time, when the Beginning of Autumn arrived, my deceased mother-in-law never forgot to prepare delicacies for me such as braised polk belly (紅燒五花肉) and braised polk with noodle (豬肉燉粉條), as well as an essential delicacy of the north: dumplings. I come from Southern China, yet I still remember the tradition of Tie Qiu Biao which was the living style of my deceased mother-in-law.

Looking back, my mother-in-law passed away almost ten years ago. I wish to commemorate her with the anecdote at the end of the article.

Reference

Book

1. 石夫、韓新愚編著：《不可不知的中華二十四節氣常識》（鄭州：中原農民出版社，2010年）。

2. 徐浩淼：〈立秋節俗淺談〉，收於北京民俗博物館編：《北京民俗論叢 第九輯》（北京：社會科學出版社，2022年）。

Journal Article

1. 胡旖晨：〈氣象學意義上的「入秋」為何與二十四節氣的「立秋」不同〉，《科學24小時》，第9期（2022年）。