Summer Solstice 夏至已至

Like！中国节 夏至

大家好！今天是夏至！

In the 7th century B.C., Chinese measured the shadow of the Sun with a template called 土圭. They used it to determine the day with the shortest shadow, which became the summer solstice, the day with the longest period of sunlight in the northern hemisphere. 

An old Chinese saying goes: 冬至饺子夏至面. It’s a tradition to eat noodles on this day, as around the time of 夏至 is when wheat ripens. China is famous for its variety of noodles like Sichuan’s dandanmian, Wuhan’s hot-dry noodles, Beijing’s noodle with fried soybean paste, Shanxi’s knife-cut noodles and Lanzhou’s hand-pulled noodles.

You can eat waxberries and lychees during 夏至 as they are now in season. And it’s said that lychees were Yang Guifei’s favorite fruit. In order to please her, the emperor had fresh lychees, which were grown thousands of kilometers from the capital, delivered by the imperial courier's fast horses. The riders would take shifts day and night in a Pony Express-like manner, to reach the palace as quickly as possible. Both waxberries and lychees expire quickly, so don’t miss out on these fruits while they are still available.

夏至已至，愿一切美好如夏而至。夏至快乐！