VenusJin,
What are you talking about?
立冬 has no astronomical significance whatsoever. The only dates that could be said to have any real significance are the Equinoxes and Solstices (which all happen around the 22nd of the months March, June, September and December).
But the equinox is not the "middle of the season" (I assume you would respond with that to defend your "立冬 is the astronomical start of Winter" nonsense). To think that the seasons start and end between the Solstices and Equinoxes is a misunderstanding of our Earth's climate. While the solstice may be shortest day of the year (thus you wuld think it is the middle of winter), it is actually more akin to the start of Winter because of the way ocean temperatures keep us warmer in the days leading up to the winter solstice.
If you don't believe this, just look at average temperatures in any northern hemisphere city:
Beijing for example: Nov. 38.8, Dec. 37, Jan. 23, Feb. 28.6
Most of us (like Changye above) define the seasons by how the weather feels to us, but if you say that the start of Winter is in Nov. and the start of Spring is in Feb. (Feb 4th no less!), this makes no sense because your start of Winter is (on average) 10º warmer than the start of Spring.
By the way, it is a bit misleading to call the traditional Chinese calendar a base for "astronomical" calculations... the Chinese Calendar is a lunar calendar and completely disregards the relationship between the earth and sun... hardly astronomical.
Posted on: Winter Fun
November 29, 2007 at 2:40 PMVenusJin, What are you talking about? 立冬 has no astronomical significance whatsoever. The only dates that could be said to have any real significance are the Equinoxes and Solstices (which all happen around the 22nd of the months March, June, September and December). But the equinox is not the "middle of the season" (I assume you would respond with that to defend your "立冬 is the astronomical start of Winter" nonsense). To think that the seasons start and end between the Solstices and Equinoxes is a misunderstanding of our Earth's climate. While the solstice may be shortest day of the year (thus you wuld think it is the middle of winter), it is actually more akin to the start of Winter because of the way ocean temperatures keep us warmer in the days leading up to the winter solstice. If you don't believe this, just look at average temperatures in any northern hemisphere city: Beijing for example: Nov. 38.8, Dec. 37, Jan. 23, Feb. 28.6 Most of us (like Changye above) define the seasons by how the weather feels to us, but if you say that the start of Winter is in Nov. and the start of Spring is in Feb. (Feb 4th no less!), this makes no sense because your start of Winter is (on average) 10º warmer than the start of Spring. By the way, it is a bit misleading to call the traditional Chinese calendar a base for "astronomical" calculations... the Chinese Calendar is a lunar calendar and completely disregards the relationship between the earth and sun... hardly astronomical.