A grain of truth

One solar term gives way to another as summer takes hold, Chen Nan reports.

After xiao man, or "grain buds", it's time for mang zhong, or "grain in ear", a Chinese solar term for summer. This year, mang zhong starts on June 6. According to this solar term, most of China will see the hot days of summer but the areas around the Yangtze River experience rain.

Mang refers to the awn, or the thistle, on the seeds of grain plants and zhong refers to harvesting and sowing, which happens at the same time. The beginning of mang zhong means the grains are mature and waiting to be harvested, so like other solar terms, it also reflects agricultural phenology.

In Chinese, mang has the same pronunciation as another mang, which means "busy". Mang zhong is also translated by Chinese farmers as "busy farming".

Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet Bai Juyi portrayed the busy scene of people working on farmlands during the period in his poem, titled Guan Yimai (Watching the Wheat Harvest): "Farm families have few leisurely months. In the fifth lunar month, they are twice as busy. The southern breeze arises in the evenings. Covered fields of wheat now turn yellow …Married women and unmarried girls carry round bamboo containers on poles full of food. Children follow with pots of gruel and water. Following each other into the fields to serve food and drink for the strong men in the southern fields."