Ancient people left the "code" of the 24 solar terms, full of philosophical meaning, you know what the code of the solar terms?

We all memorized the 24 solar terms song when we were young, and the 28-word 24 solar terms song is so catchy that it condenses the wisdom of our ancestors on the natural and social life and long-term observation. It not only guides ancient labor production and life, but also reflects the unique charm of Chinese philosophy.

The twenty-four solar terms are a string of codes left behind by the ancients. While the laboring people were deciphering the laws of nature, the unique Chinese philosophical concepts such as the consciousness of precious life, the idea of yin and yang, the five elements, and the concept of harmony between man and heaven became the all-powerful code book, which provided a wide range of inspirations for the Chinese people to understand the world.

Even today, when technology is so advanced, the 24 solar terms still have high cultural and scientific value. Let's go into today's article to understand the Chinese philosophy behind the 24 solar terms.

I. The Formation and Influence of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms

1. "Four Seasons and Eight Sections" - the Rudiments of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms

The Chinese have been observing nature from a very early age, and the earliest documents on the Twenty-Four Solar Terms can be traced back to the Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

The people of this period had limited access to the laws of heaven and earth, and based on their observations of the sun, moon and stars, and the changes in the length of day and night, they created the earliest of the "Four Elephants".

Later, people observed the changes in the length of day and night in a year and named them. "Day" and "night" are said to be the equal division of day and night in a day, "day short" and "day forever" represent the shortest day of the year and the longest day of the year, respectively. "Day Short" and "Day Forever" represent the shortest and longest days of the year, respectively.

"Mid-spring", "mid-summer", "mid-autumn", "mid-winter" represent the equinoxes, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. Spring, summer, fall and winter are collectively known as the Four Elephants.

The four seasons were then simply divided into four seasons, and the Four Elephants were the Four Seasons, the prototype of the 24 Solar Terms.

Later, during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods, eight seasons were developed on the basis of the Four Seasons, and the overall framework of the 24 Solar Terms was finalized.

2. The turning of the Big Dipper and the establishment of the 24 Solar Terms

Later, people observed that the pointing of the handle of the Big Dipper was closely related to the "Four Seasons and Eight Sections", and the 24 Solar Terms were further developed. Ancient people found that the handle of the Big Dipper would change its direction due to the alternation of seasons, with the handle pointing to the east for spring, to the south for summer, to the west for autumn, and to the north for east.

The directly observable shift of the stars became the main basis for the ancients to judge the change of seasons.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, the emperor ordered that the "24 Solar Terms" be incorporated into the "Tai Chou Calendar", which was established as a piece of legislation.

The science and technology of the Western Han Dynasty was much more advanced than before, and the method of measuring the sun's shadow with an earth gui was invented to determine the length of the sun's shadow more accurately, and the winter solstice, which has the longest sun's shadow of the year, was taken as the first day of the year.

The current "twenty-four seasons" are divided according to the number of degrees of the sun's yellow meridian, which is why today's twenty-four seasons begin with the first day of spring and end with the last day of cold.

3. Impact of the 24 Solar Terms on Agricultural Production and Life

The 24 Solar Terms are closely related to the production and life of the ancient working people, and they are a system of knowledge about time summarized through long-term observation and practice.

This product of the farming civilization adapted to the economic production methods and life needs of the time, not only helping agricultural production to grasp the agricultural time and promote social and economic development.

The customs and habits that evolved from the twenty-four solar terms also enriched people's lives and held the ancient people's hopes for a better life.

Even in today's technologically advanced world, the people's spiritual attachment to the 24 Solar Terms is still growing, and plays an important role in strengthening the sense of national identity and national cohesion.

II. The Cultural Connotation and Philosophical Significance of the Twenty-four Solar Terms

1. Spring: The Beginning of the Year, the Start of the Hibernation of All Things

From the Twenty-four Solar Terms, it is easy to see that the seasons are artificially laid down in a way that is in line with the tone of people's lives: spring springs forth, summer grows, autumn harvests, and winter stores.

Spring symbolizes the rebirth and revival of all things, as the proverb says: "Spring thunder, all things grow."

The ancients perceived the flux of life in the spring and developed a feeling of reverence for life - this is the sense of noble life in traditional Chinese philosophy.

Lichun is the first of the twenty-four solar terms, at which time "the east wind thaws, and the stinging insects begin to vibrate"; in the rainy season, the ice and snow melt, and "the fish on the ice" and "the wild geese", and the world gradually comes back to life; and the festival of the season of life is gradually restoring vitality; and the festival of the season of the life of the world. Gradually restore vitality; and one of the "hibernation", which is the end of hibernation of natural organisms, resumption of the meaning of the activity.

From the point of view of life, the 24 solar terms are more like a high degree of generalization of the activities of plants and animals. The Chinese honor the laws of nature and all living things, including people themselves.

After the hibernation, the weather warms up, the yang energy rises, and human beings start a new year's labor, with "planting melons and beans around the time of the Qingming Festival" becoming the first rule guiding agricultural production.

One of the most important aspects of the consciousness of noble life is the idea that human life is noble, and the "twenty-four seasons" help people to live better and work more productively, which is exactly in line with this idea.

In ancient times, when production methods and productivity were still immature, the 24 Solar Terms became the main guiding law for improving productivity; at the same time, the observation of nature in the 24 Solar Terms and the laws summarized from them allowed people to know how to obtain limited resources from nature at the right time to achieve sustainable development.

The idea of following the laws of natural development and respecting the laws of growth of all things as a way to form a good cycle of natural ecology.

The ancients arranged agricultural activities, festivals, diets, and other aspects of life according to the twenty-four seasons, all of which are the embodiment of the consciousness of precious life.

2. Summer: the growth of everything, efficient management

By summer, plants enter the main period of growth. In most parts of China, summer has longer sunshine hours than the other three seasons and the most frequent precipitation, providing ample light and water for crop growth, but also bringing the threat of drought and flooding.

And the emergence of the twenty-four seasons largely reduced agricultural losses caused by natural disasters. Unlike Western civilization's forceful transformation, people have learned to use and transform nature while adapting to it, reflecting the unique wisdom of ancient Chinese philosophy.

"Xiaoman Xiaoman, the river gradually full", Xiaoman season rainfall gradually increased, farmers also began to pay attention to the waterlogging of farmland; "Mansiao" is the barley and wheat harvest, cereal, millet sowing demarcation point, grasp this node on the second half of the crop cultivation The first time I saw this, it was a very important thing to do.

The twenty-four solar terms provide an efficient way to manage the growth of summer crops, which improves people's quality of life.

3. Autumn: the beginning of yin qi, the harvest of all things

The idea of yin and yang and the five elements was formed in the Warring States period, in which the Taoist Laozi and Zhuangzi played a great role in the creation and implementation of yin and yang and the five elements. Later, in the context of the Hundred Schools of Thought during the Warring States period, the ideas of the Taoists, Yin-Yangists, and other schools of thought interacted with each other, and the Yi Chuan finally came into being, and the system of yin and yang thought became more complete.

The twenty-four solar terms were formed at the end of the Warring States period, and their contents and ideas all reflected the concept of yin and yang. People began to use yin and yang to explain the four seasons, believing that yin and yang and the two qi sympathetic changes to form the universe, and that the four seasons are the product of the intersection of yin and yang.

The ancients eventually came to the relationship between yin and yang and the four seasons: Taiji is the origin of the universe, yin and yang give birth to the four seasons, and yin and yang are the fundamental reason for the alternation of the four seasons.

Spring and summer are the four seasons in which yang is most prevalent, and fall is considered to be the beginning of the prevalence of yin. In the book, "The Seventy-Two Waiting Periods of the Moon," it is written, "The yin qi is getting heavier, and the dew is condensing and turning white."

This is the origin of "White Dew". From the beginning of the white dew, most of China began to cool down, migratory birds began to migrate to avoid the cold, and the arrival of the white dew also indicates that the harvest time is getting closer and closer.

As the saying goes: "White dew white fan, autumn equinox rice show Qi." It can be seen that the climate of the white dew has an important impact on the crop harvest.

4. winter: the end of the year, know the stops

Winter is cold, less light, in order to reduce the consumption of energy, including human beings, most of the natural organisms choose.

Da Cold season, agricultural production activities have ceased, the working people on the one hand for the land composting, do a good job of plant and animal frost protection, on the other hand, people also pay extra attention to maintain the body.

Lao Zi puts forward the idea of "knowing enough is always enough" and "knowing when to stop is never dangerous", which means that the subjective exploitation of nature should be stopped in order to maintain ecological balance - this is an important manifestation of the idea of harmony in the Chinese philosophical system. This is an important manifestation of the idea of harmony in the Chinese philosophical system.

Summary

If the twenty-four solar terms are a drop of dew that gathers the wisdom of the laboring people, the light reflected therein is the rich and splendid philosophical system of China.

The twenty-four solar terms were formed during the Warring States period, when a hundred schools of philosophical thought contended with each other, and were established at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, when science and technology were more advanced, with strong practical value and guiding significance for people's production and life.

The twenty-four solar terms contain ancient Chinese wisdom, which not only cultivated the Chinese people's worldview of respecting nature and life, but also shaped the ideal of living in harmony.

Till today, the idea of "green **** enjoyment" in the 24 solar terms is still not outdated, and the development concept of "innovation, coordination, greenness, openness, and **** enjoyment" is closely related to the philosophical concepts behind the 24 solar terms, and still has contemporary significance at present. It is still of contemporary significance at the present time.

The twenty-four solar terms are the valuable spiritual wealth of the Chinese people forever.