The 24 solar terms, based on Chinese people’s understanding of the law of nature, astronomical calendar and folk farming, are hailed as the “Fifth Invention of Ancient China”. Many solar terms are reflected in traditional Chinese poetry and painting, which have been endowed with rich cultural values throughout China’s lengthy history.
Inthe painting Snow on Mount Emei, the mountain is covered in the solar term of Minor Snow and a tourist is braving the snow to look for plum blossoms at the foot of the mountain.
The painting Spring in the Mountains and Lakes depicts a turquoise river running eastward. Two boats drift on the river. The mountains along the river are misty. A glimpse of the painting makes viewers feel as if they are breathing the moist air in the solar term of Rain Water.
“On a fine day a crane cleaves the clouds and soars high; It leads the poet’s lofty mind to azure sky.” This line of Liu Yuxi’s poem evokes a fantastic scene of the solar term of Autumn Equinox as depicted in the painting Pavilion on a Fairy Mountain, in which a pavilion stands on a fairy mountain under the clear sky, and a fairy lady flies over the mountain on a crane.
China Matters produced an animation series named The 24 Solar Terms in Poetry and Painting. With the 24 solar terms as the theme, the animated works combine traditional Chinese ink painting with ancient Chinese poems translated by Dr. Xu Yuanchong to integrate and showcase the beauty of Chinese ancient painting, ancient poetry and solar terms.