THE STIRRING OF LIFE

People, in general, regard spring as the beginning of a year when everything is fresh and full of vitality. Life displays its energy again, emerging from the icy clutches of winter. Although the first month of the lunar calendar is traditionally considered to be the first month of spring, real spring comes later.

More precisely, the Lichun (Beginning of Spring) solar term is regarded as the official start of spring. Although Lunar New Year is called Spring Festival, it is at the Beginning of Spring when people can truly welcome and feel the spring. The real early spring is called mengchun, which is counted from the beginning of the Lichun solar term to the time before the start of Jingzhe (Awakening of Insects).

In climatology, spring refers to the period when the temperature rises from 10 C to 22 C after winter. The southern parts of Fujian and Yunnan provinces are the earliest destinations for spring in China, usually in late February. Most of the southern provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Hunan, welcome spring in early March. In early April, spring arrives at the northernmost Beijing and Tianjin region of the North China Plain. In May, spring begins to wake up the south of Harbin, Heilongjiang province. In the western region of China, the spring wind begins in April in Northern Xinjiang, and in March in Southern Xinjiang.

In March, the beginning month of spring, the temperature undergoes sudden changes, the weather is sometimes cold and sometimes warm, and the temperature rises rapidly, and rainfall increases. Except for the northeast and northwest parts of China, the average temperature in most areas has risen to above 0 C. The average daily temperature in North China is 2-8 C, and that in the areas along the Yangtze River and South China is above 8 C.

The grand historian Sima Qian stressed the importance of the beginning of spring in the book Historical Records of Heaven Officials, and people at the time attached great importance to it. The emperors of the Zhou Dynasty went to the suburbs to greet the Spring God, and the ritual they inherited must have originated from the previous dynasty. People wait outside reverently to welcome spring, a custom that has survived to this day.

A season for the recovery of all things and the blooming of flowers. Shangrao, Kunming, Yangzhou and Hangzhou are among the most popular tourist destinations to feel the warming embrace of early spring. Wuyuan county, in Shangrao, Jiangxi province is a must-go-to place. In middle and late March, the pink peach blossoms and the white pear blossoms are dotted among the golden rapeseed blossoms all over the mountains and fields. Hiding among the flowers, trees and hills, white walls stand in a sharp contrast to the gray tiles and brown windows. The Hui-style architecture enhances the setting. The breeze blows the golden waves, overflowing with an intoxicating and rich fragrance.

Spring is also a gourmet's delight. The taste of spring is like the freshly dug spring bamboo shoots－fragrant yet a little sweet. For the Chinese, especially those living in the Yangtze River Delta region, there is no spring without this essential ingredient. This delicious morsel adorns countless gastronomical delights: braised spring bamboo shoots, spring bamboo shoots and fish, boiled bamboo shoots with salt, braised bamboo shoots with red glutinous rice, fresh pork and salted pork with bamboo shoot soup, best known as Shanghai pot-au-feu.

The oriole chirps once or twice in the mild cold and half warmth of early spring. The blooming plum blossoms open and fall, fluttering in the wind like butterflies. People stand in the wilderness, stand on high platforms, stand in the forest, climb the top of the mountain, and feel the sun in the early spring.