24 Solar Terms: Xiaohan (Lesser Cold)

Xiaohan (Lesser Cold) is the 23rd solar term of the 24 traditional Chinese solar terms and the first one in 2021, starting from January 5. Lesser Cold implies that the cold air accumulation hasn’t reached its peak; however, as it usually arrives around the 3rd nine-day periods following the Winter Solstice, it marks the beginning of the coldest days of the year for most areas of China.

糯米饭 Glutinous rice / Nayuta

菜饭 Mixed vegetable rice / Chinadaily

Eating mixed vegetable rice / glutinous rice

The custom of eating mixed vegetable rice during Xiaohan is still followed today in Nanjing. Aijiaohuang (a kind of green vegetable), sausage, salted duck and other Nanjing specialties are added in the rice with ginger. The Cantonese eat glutinous rice in the morning. Fried preserved pork, sausage, peanuts and chopped scallion stalks are mixed into 60% glutinous rice and 40% fragrant rice so that it would not be too sticky as breakfast. According to the theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine, glutinous rice has the effect of tonifying the spleen and stomach in the cold season.

Video provided by China Xinhua News Network Corporation

When the coldest days of the year come, northern China is in severe cold, while Sanya, a city in Hainan province in southern China, remains as warm as spring. Hence, it becomes an ideal place for people from North China, mainly northeast provinces, to escape to during the harsh winter, like “migratory birds”. In the same gloomy winter days in Sweden, let’s take a stroll on Sanya’s tropical seashore, where sunshine, blue sea and white sand await your visit after the pandemic!