Blog entry

立秋(Liqiu) “Beginning of Autumn” is the 13th of the 24 solar terms. It signifies the end of summer and the arrival of autumn though many parts of China will take time to cool down. Leaves fall from the Chinese parasol tree and people eat watermelons to dispel the heat from summer (a habit known as 啃秋 or “biting the autumn”). The mountainous regions of Hunan, Jiangxi and Anhui have the picturesque custom of 晒秋(drying the autumn harvest in the sun) at their homes due to the lack of level land.