Major Cold: A Time with Snowflakes and Blooming Plum

Dahan, which means Major Cold, is the last one of the 24 solar terms. There are many interesting folk activities related to this solar term, such as offering sacrifices to the god of kitchen and god of land, and drinking porridge with mixed ingredients. The structure of the Chinese character Han, which means cold, has not changed much since ancient times, with its top part representing a house, the bottom two points standing for ice and snow, and the middle part symbolizing a person leaning on the thatch to keep warm.

Chinese art is known for blending calligraphy and painting. Both calligraphy and painting seek to portrait unity of human and nature. Some painters like to depict Major Cold with rural scenes. In his painting Late Winter in the Sunken Cave House, Wang Taili uses deep warm colors and shows a crouching person to indicate the cold in winter. The sunken cave houses have a history of several thousand years in China. Known as sunken quadrangle, they are a symbol of rural dwellings in early China.

People love to see birds in winter. In Zhou Zhongyao's painting Winter Scene, two lovely birds perching upon the stone snuggle up to each other. The red feathers and the yellow bananas against white snow create a poetic scene of late winter. Bamboo and Birds in the Snow by Ren Zhong is painted on delicate silk paper. The birds in the painting, standing quietly on the snowy bamboo, are true to life. Wu Xiangdong’s painting Major Cold Heralds a New Year and Song Rongyao's Late Winter both depict scenes of snow, with snow covering the frozen ground and the brick walls of village houses. Oil painting is good at depicting a multi-dimensional scene, a scene in which the edges of frozen ground and brick walls pierce through snow as if carved out by the cold wind.

Other painters express their understanding of time with paintings of realistic styles. Some scholars believe that fishing, wood-cutting, mountains and rivers are key to understanding the traditional Chinese culture. In Liu Jingui's painting Major Cold, a lonely old man sits in a boat on a cold river against the background of red plum and white snow, evoking nostalgia. In Major Cold, a painting by Lao Shu, the layout is simple, and gentle colors are used. The half-closed scroll book and unidentified time-setting convey another understanding of the passage of time: Although the winter day is still bleak, spring is on its way. It’s a good time to watch the snowflakes falling quietly and wait for plums to bloom.

Time flies. The solar term Major Cold indicates that the chilly winter will soon be over, and a new year will take its place.