To many, the coming of autumn represents the end of hot summer heat. Cool breeze, red maple leaves alongside with mature crops. However, in the Chinese solar terms, the "Beginning of Autumn", or Liqiu, which begins on this Friday, is not a messenger to bring "cool" news.

Liqiu is the first solar term of autumn, and the 13th among the 24 solar terms in Chinese lunar calendar. Usually, Liqiu falls in the Sanfu period, which means the dog days in Chinese. Therefore, though Liqiu represents the beginning of autumn, there are still several days to wait until the temperature drops. These days are called by "autumn tiger" in Chinese old sayings.

According to the three pentads of Liqiu, cool wind, morning fog and cicadas will appear one by one. As autumn is the season representing harvest, farmers need to be ready for harvesting the crops, and animals will start to collect or hunt for food in order to be prepared for the cold winter.

Liqiu also marks the changing point for the extreme weathers that occur frequently in the summer. These changes will be more obvious in southern parts of China. The frequency of rainfall and thunderstorms will drop gradually, which is good news for the areas that were suffering from the severe floods.

(All images via VCG. Cover is designed by CGTN's Qu Bo.)

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