節氣 Jié Qì - Solar Terms

What are the 24 Solar Terms?

二十四節氣 Èr shí sì JiéQì the Twenty-four Solar Terms are 24 seasonal sections of the solar year, or, in other words, the 24 divisions of the sun’s path along the ecliptic. JiéQì is the beginning marker for each of the twelve solar months, and 中氣 ZhongQi marks the middle of the months, which correlates with the twelve Jupiter modes/ terms.

Initially, temporal time was used to determine the phases of the JieQi just by using the shadow length at a specific time. When the sun's shadow was the shortest, this indicated (夏至 xiazhi "summer has arrived"), and when the shadow was the longest, this indicated (冬至 dongzhi "winter has arrived"). 

In later development, the temporal time utilization was changed to fix segments by the division of the ecliptic of the sun into 24 equal sectors. With this newer method, the year begins with the Yin month, and the JieQi marks are the beginning of the sector in which the sun passes.

(十二節氣 Shi'er JieQi) The 24 Solar Terms
01 春分 Chūn fēn	Vernal Equinox	Mar 20	乙 Yi
02 清明 Gīng míng	Clear and Bright	Apr 04	辰 Chen
03 谷雨 Gǔ yǔ	Grain Rain	Apr 19	巽 Xun
04 立夏 Lì xià	Start of Summer	May 05	巳 Si
05 小满 Xiǎo mǎn	Small Full (Grain)	May 20	丙 Bing
06 芒种 Máng zhǒng	Grain in Ear	Jun 05	午 Wu
07 夏至 Xià zhì	Summer Solstice	Jun 21	丁 Ding
08 小暑 Xiǎo shǔ	Minor Heat	Jul 06	未 Wei
09 大暑 Dà shǔ	Major Heat	Jul 22	坤 Kun
10 立秋 Lì qiū	Start of Autumn	Aug 07	申 Shen
11 处暑 Chù shǔ	Limit of Heat	Aug 22	庚 Geng
12 白露 Bái lù	White Dew	Sep 07	酉 You
13 秋分 Qiū fēn	Autumnal Equinox	Sep 22	辛 Xin
14 寒露 Hán lù	Cold Dew	Oct 08	戌 Xu
15 霜降 Shuāng jiàng	Frost Descent	Oct 23	乾 Qian
16 立冬 Lì dōng	Start of Winter	Nov 07	亥 Hai
17 小雪 Xiǎo xuě	Minor Snow	Nov 22	壬 Ren
18 大雪 Dà xuě	Major Snow	Dec 07	子 Zi
19 冬至 Dōng zhì	Winter Solstice	Dec 21	癸 Gui
20 小寒 Xiǎo hán	Minor Cold	Jan 06	丑 Chou
21 大寒 Dà hán	Major Cold	Jan 20	艮 Gen
22 立春 Lì chūn	Start of Spring	Feb 04	寅 Yin
23 雨水 Yǔ shuǐ	Rain Water	Feb 19	甲 Jia
24 惊蛰 Jīng zhé	Awakening of Insects	Mar 05	卯 Mao