June 2018

Singapore has opened up post-pandemic, so the shop is re-opened for business! Sorry for the long wait!

夏至(xiazhi)Summer Solstice 21 June 2018

夏至 (xiazhi)or Summer Solstice is the tenth solar term in the Chinese calendar.As in other countries, this is the longest day of the year and also the shortest night. The weather turns fickle, there are rainstorms, plum rain in the Jianghuai area of China and it is hot and humid.

Duanwujie 端午节 Dragonboat Festival 18 June 2018

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is  端午节, commonly known as the Dragonboat Festival in English. It is a public holiday in China  and the fesival was added to the UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage List on October 30th 2009. It commemorates the suicide of poet and patriot Qu Yuan in Miluo River after his kingdom of Chu was invaded by Qin. 

芒种 (mang zhong) Grain In Ear 6 June 2018

Today is 芒种, the nineth solar term. Wheat and barley ripens in Northern China and it is time for summer planting in Southern China. Plums ripen and are eaten for good health which is why the start of the rainy season in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river is called “plum rains”. It will be hot, humid and rainy until mid-July.