The traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar divides a year into 24 solar terms (節氣). Xiǎoxuě (Chinese: 小雪; pinyin: xiǎoxuě) is the 20th solar term.[1] It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 240° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 255°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 240°. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around 22 November and ends around 7 December.

Xiaoxue
Chinese name
Chinese小雪
Literal meaningminor snow
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinxiǎoxuě
Bopomofoㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄒㄩㄝˇ
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanizationsíu syut
Jyutpingsiu2 syut3
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabettiểu tuyết
Chữ Hán小雪
Korean name
Hangul소설
Hanja小雪
Transcriptions
Revised Romanizationsoseol
Japanese name
Kanji小雪
Hiraganaしょうせつ
Transcriptions
Romanizationgeshi
Solar term
Term Longitude Dates
Lichun 315° 4–5 February
Yushui 330° 18–19 February
Jingzhe 345° 5–6 March
Chunfen 20–21 March
Qingming 15° 4–5 April
Guyu 30° 20–21 April
Lixia 45° 5–6 May
Xiaoman 60° 21–22 May
Mangzhong 75° 5–6 June
Xiazhi 90° 21–22 June
Xiaoshu 105° 7–8 July
Dashu 120° 22–23 July
Liqiu 135° 7–8 August
Chushu 150° 23–24 August
Bailu 165° 7–8 September
Qiufen 180° 23–24 September
Hanlu 195° 8–9 October
Shuangjiang 210° 23–24 October
Lidong 225° 7–8 November
Xiaoxue 240° 22–23 November
Daxue 255° 7–8 December
Dongzhi 270° 21–22 December
Xiaohan 285° 5–6 January
Dahan 300° 20–21 January

Pentads

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  • 虹藏不見, 'Rainbows are concealed from view'. It was believed that rainbows were the results of yin and yang energy mixing; winter, being dominated by yin, would not present rainbows.
  • 天氣上騰地氣下降, 'The Qi of the sky ascends, the qi of the earth descends'
  • 閉塞而成冬, 'Closure and stasis create winter'. The end of mixing between sky and earth, yin and yang, leads to the dormancy of winter.

Date and time

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Date and Time (UTC)
year begin end
辛巳 2001-11-22 06:00 2001-12-07 01:28
壬午 2002-11-22 11:53 2002-12-07 07:14
癸未 2003-11-22 17:43 2003-12-07 13:05
甲申 2004-11-21 23:21 2004-12-06 18:48
乙酉 2005-11-22 05:14 2005-12-07 00:32
丙戌 2006-11-22 11:01 2006-12-07 06:26
丁亥 2007-11-22 16:49 2007-12-07 12:14
戊子 2008-11-21 22:44 2008-12-06 18:02
己丑 2009-11-22 04:22 2009-12-06 23:52
庚寅 2010-11-22 10:14 2010-12-07 05:38
辛卯 2011-11-22 16:07 2011-12-07 11:29
壬辰 2012-11-21 21:50 2012-12-06 17:18
癸巳 2013-11-22 03:48 2013-12-06 23:08
甲午 2014-11-22 09:38 2014-12-07 05:04
乙未 2015-11-22 15:26 2015-12-07 10:52
丙申 2016-11-21 21:23 2016-12-06 16:42
丁酉 2017-11-22 03:02 2017-12-06 22:33
戊戌 2018-11-22 08:59 2018-12-07 04:23
己亥 2019-11-22 14:59 2019-12-07 10:17
庚子 2020-11-21 20:40 2020-12-06 16:11
Source: JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System

References

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  1. ^ Gyllenbok, Jan (11 April 2018). Encyclopaedia of Historical Metrology, Weights, and Measures: Volume 1. Birkhäuser. ISBN 978-3-319-57598-8.
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Preceded by
Lidong (立冬)
Solar term (節氣) Succeeded by
Daxue (大雪)