Lesser Fullness is the eighth solar term of the year and the second of summer. During this term, winter wheat is becoming full but yet to ripen completely, hence the name Lesser Fullness.
The arrival of Lesser Fullness is accompanied by a significant rise in temperatures, with an average temperature of over 22℃ in most parts of China and a smaller temperature difference between the north and the south. Meanwhile, an increase in precipitation is expected as well, which often results in the rise of water levels in southern China.
Thanks to abundant irrigation in such a particular time period, farmers are free from risks of severe droughts which exert a negative impact on crop yields. In ancient China, in order to ward off droughts and pray for sufficient rainfall, farmers would sacrifice fish, meat, joss sticks and candles on the base of waterwheels and pour a cup of water into the field at this time.
It used to be a tradition for people to eat sow thistle during Lesser Fullness as the plant dispels heat from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine. Wheat pancakes were served to remind people to have more staple food as summer’s high temperatures are likely to leave people drained.
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Read By Pan Huirui and Zou Minghao
Sonnet
John Clare
I love to see the summer beaming forth
And white wool sack clouds sailing to the north
I love to see the wild flowers come again
And mare blobs stain with gold the meadow drain
And water lillies whiten on the floods
Where reed clumps rustle like a wind shook wood
Where from her hiding place the Moor Hen pushes
And seeks her flag nest floating in bull rushes
I like the willow leaning half way o'er
The clear deep lake to stand upon its shore
I love the hay grass when the flower head swings
To summer winds and insects happy wings
That sport about the meadow the bright day
And see bright beetles in the clear lake play
Writer: Qiu Runxuan, Wang Xinning
