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The 24 Seasonal Division Points
二十四节气
According to the way of numbering the years in Chinese lunar calendar,there are two seasonal division points in each month，making 24 in a year.
按照中国农历的纪年法，每个月都有两个节气，一年共有24个节气。节气是中国农历特有的。古人在长期的生产劳动中，逐渐认识了气候变化的规律，他们根据太阳和地球的相互关系，把一年的天数分成24等分，用来表示季节和气候的变化。这样，差不多每巧天就有一个节气，每个月就有两个节气了。二十四节气在公历中的日期几乎是固定的，上半年(1-6月)的节气都在每个月的6日和21日前后;下半年(7一12月)的节气都在每个月的8日和23日前后。
The seasonal division points are peculiar to China’s lunar calendar. In the long period of productive labor, ancient men gradually realized the rule of climate change. According to the relationship between the sun and the earth，they divided all the days in a year into 24 parts to indicate the change of seasons and climate. Thus，there is a seasonal divi-sional point about every 15 days and iwo seasonal divisional points within each month. The time of the 24 sea-sonal division points in the Gregorian calendar is almost fixed:those in the first half of the year(from January to June) all fall around the sixth or 21st day of the month，and those in the lat-ter half of the year(from July to De-cember )，on about the eighth or 23rd day of the month.
二十四节气的名称分别是:立春、雨水、惊蛰、春分、清明、谷雨、立夏、小满、芒种、夏至、小暑、大暑、立秋、处暑、白露、秋分、寒露、霜降、立冬、小雪、大雪、冬至、小寒、大寒。
The names for the 24 seasonal division points are:Beginning of Spring，Rain Water, Waking of Insects，Vernal Equinox，Pure Brightness，Grain Rain，Beginning of Summer, Grain Budding，Grain in Ear, Summer Solstice，Slight Heat, Great Heat， Beginning of Autumn，Limit of Heat，White Dew, Autumnal Equinox, Cold Dew, Frost’s Descent, Beginning of Winter, Slight Snow, Great Snow, Winter Sol-stice，Slight Cold，and Great Cold，respectively.
立春、立夏、立秋、立冬表示四季的开始。春分、秋分是一年中昼夜一样长的两天。夏至是一年中白天最长、黑夜最短的一天。冬至是一年中白天最短、黑夜最长的一天。
The Beginning of Spring，Beginning of Summer, Beginning of Autumn and Be-ginning of Winter mark the start of four seasons. The Vernal Equinox and the Au-tumnal Equinox are the two points where the day and night are equal;
雨水是开始下雨的意思。
The Summer Solstice has the longest day and shortest night in a year, while the opposite is true for the Winter Solstice
惊蛰表示春雷响过以后，冬眠的昆虫被惊醒了。
The Rain Water means the start of the spring rains. The Waking of Insects indi-Gates that the spring thunder awakens hibernating insects.
清明是说春天到了以后，明净的春色代替了冬季寒冷枯黄的景色。
The Pure Brightness means the onset of spring when a bright and clean spring scene replaces the cold，withered and yellow scene in winter.
谷雨表示从此雨水增多，对五谷的生长很有好处。
The Grain Rain indicates that from that day，there will be more rainfall，which is beneficial to the growth of crops.
小满表示在夏季成熟的农作物籽粒开始饱满了。
The Grain Budding shows that crops that will ripen in summer start to show plump seeds.
芒种告诉人们小麦已经成熟了。
The Grain in Ear tells people that the wheat has ripened.
小暑、大暑表示天气炎热的程度，大暑是一年中最热的时候。
The Slight Heat and Great Heat indicate the full onset of summer, with the Great Heat being the hottest day of the year
处暑表示炎热的天气快要过去了。
The Limit of Heat shows that scorching summer days will soon be gone.
白露告诉人们开始下露水，天气就要冷了。
The White Dew tells people that dew appears in the morning to show that the weather is turning cold，and，as this intensifies，we move on to the Cold Dew.
寒露表明露水已重，天寒加剧。
The Frost’s Descent means the appearance of the first frost of the season.
霜降是开始下霜的意思。
The Slight Snow and Great Snow mean the arrival of the snowy season.
小雪、大雪表示到了下雪的时节和雪量大小的差别。
The Slight Cold and Great Cold indicate the degree of coldness in winter，with the Great Cold being the coldest day of the season.
小寒、大寒表示冬天寒冷的程度，大寒是一年中最冷的时候。
The 24 seasonal division points have great influence on China’s farming. For the convenience of memory，people compiled The Song for the 24 Seasonal Division Points:
二十四节气对中国的农业生产起着很大的作用，人们为了方便记忆，还编出了《二十四节气歌》:
Following the Beginning of Spring and Rain Water, the Waking of Insects awak-ens the Vernal Equinox, and then come the Pure Brightness and Grain Rain，After the Beginning of Summer, Grain Budding，Grain in Ear, and Summer Sol-stice，the Slight Heat is connected with Great Heat.
春雨惊春清谷天，夏满芒夏暑相连，
The Beginning of Autumn and Limit of Heat are followed by the White Dew，Autumnal Equinox，Cold Dew and then the Frost’s Descent,And the Beginning of Winter leads to the Slight Snow, Great Snow, Winter Sol-stice，Slight Cold and Great Cold.
秋处露秋寒霜降，冬雪雪冬小大寒。
In the first half of the year, the seasonal division points fall on the sixth or 21st day of the month，And those in the latter half year occur on the eighth or 23 rd day of the month.
上半年是六、二一，下半年是八、二三。
