What
Great Heat is the twelfth solar term among the twenty-four solar terms in China, usually on July 22 or 23 every year. "Dashu" means "Great Heat" - the hottest time of the year. If Xiaoshu is the "hot trailer", Dashu is the "hot feature film". During the Great Summer Season, the temperature in most parts of China exceeds 35°C, and even exceeds 40°C in the south.
Why
Why is the Great Heat so important?
- Climate reasons: During the summer season, the sun shines directly near the Tropic of Cancer, and the northern hemisphere receives the most solar radiation. "Small heat and big heat, steam at the top and boil at the bottom" - the heat of the big heat is "damp heat", like a steamer. The air was full of water vapor, the sweat could not be discharged, and the whole body was sticky. This "steaming" heat is more difficult to endure than dry heat.
- Agricultural reasons: During the hot season, rice begins to "joint" (rapidly grow) and corn begins to "head". "If the heat is not hot enough, the grain will not grow" - If the heat is not hot enough, the crops will not grow well. The "heat" of the Great Heat is a "good thing" for farmers - the hotter it is, the faster crops grow.
- Physical reasons: Traditional Chinese medicine believes that "clearing away heat and relieving heat" is necessary for severe summer heat. During the hot summer season, the human body is prone to "heat stroke" - dizziness, nausea, and fatigue. Chinese people eat "mung bean soup", "watermelon" and "bitter melon" to "cool down". But the Chinese do not advocate eating "ice" - they think that "too much ice" will hurt the stomach and increase moisture.
How
Three major customs during the Great Summer:
- Drinking Fu Tea: During the summer season, there is a custom of "drinking Fu tea" in southern China. "Fucha" is tea made from a variety of Chinese herbal medicines - honeysuckle, chrysanthemum, licorice, tangerine peel, etc. Fucha is not a "drink", but a "medicine" - preventing "heat" and "heat stroke" in summer.
- Sun-fried ginger: On the day of great heat, the Chinese slice ginger and put it in the sun to dry. After the "Fujiang" is dried, it can be used to make tea and soup. The function of fujiang is to "warm the middle and dispel cold" - in summer, people eat a lot of cold food, so use fujiang to "warm the stomach". This is the "balanced wisdom" of the Chinese people - eat cold food in summer, but also eat warm food.
- Eat jelly grass: Eat "jelly grass" - a kind of jelly made from herbs during the Great Heat in southern China. The grass jelly is slippery and cool. After eating a bowl, the heat will disappear. Grass jelly is not a "dessert", but a "medicine" - clearing away heat, detoxifying, relieving heat and reducing internal heat.
When
The best scene during the Great Summer: the courtyard at night. It's too hot during the day and people are hiding at home. In the evening, when the temperature dropped slightly, the whole family moved the bamboo bed and bamboo chairs to the yard. Grandma shook the cattail leaf fan and told the children stories. There are sliced watermelons on the table and ice-cold mung bean soup hanging in the well. This is a "slow" moment - it's so hot that people don't want to move, so they can only live "slowly".
Where
At Giaokz.com in Florence, we will prepare "Mung Bean Soup + Grass Jelly" on this hot day. The Italian guest said, "Isn't this our gelato?" I said, "No, gelato is 'ice', and our mung bean soup is 'cold'. The Chinese believe that anything too cold will hurt the stomach. We want to 'cool down', but not 'hurt the body.'"
One Word
Steam (zhēng)
The heat of the Great Heat is not "roasted" but "steamed". Roasting is dry heat, steaming is moist heat. The great heat in southern China is like a big steamer - the air is full of water vapor, sweat cannot be discharged, and the whole body is sticky. This kind of "steaming" heat is more difficult to endure than "baking". But the Chinese have learned to survive in the "steam": drinking tea, eating fairy grass, sleeping on bamboo mats, shaking cattail fans - these are not "fighting against the heat", but "coexisting with the heat". The Great Heat tells us: When you can't change the environment, learn to adapt to it.
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> 💡 Remember the Great Heat in one sentence: The Great Heat is the "feature of heat" - the hottest time of the year, and it is also the time to learn to "coexist with the heat".