Beginning of Spring Customs

Welcoming Spring is the most important official ceremony associated with Beginning of Spring. Its purpose is to receive spring itself and to welcome back Jumang, the deity of spring. The custom has a history of at least three thousand years. The *Liji · Yueling* records that during the Zhou dynasty the Son of Heaven personally led the Three Dukes, Nine Ministers, feudal lords, and senior officials to the eastern suburbs on Beginning of Spring to welcome the season and pray for a good harvest. By the Han dynasty at the latest, the spring-welcoming rite had developed into a nationwide ceremonial institution. The *Hou Hanshu · Liyi Zhi* records:

“立春之日，夜漏未尽五刻，京师百官皆衣青衣，郡国县道官下至斗食令吏皆服青帻，立青幡，施土牛耕人于门外，以示兆民”

Green-blue symbolized spring and the east, while the ceremony itself took place in the eastern suburbs, reflecting the ancient understanding of the correspondence between the four seasons and the cardinal directions.

The spring-welcoming rite was not improvised on the day itself. It required preparation and rehearsal beforehand, traditionally known as “演春”, or rehearsing spring. Usually on the day before Beginning of Spring, local officials selected an open space outside the city and temporarily erected decorated shelters. A ceremonial Spring Mountain throne—the seat of Jumang—and an earthen spring ox were displayed there in advance.

On the day of the rite, drums, music, and ceremonial guards led the procession. The prefectural or county magistrate and his officials, dressed in formal robes, occupied the center, followed closely by farmers carrying agricultural tools. The procession moved to the eastern suburbs of the county town, where participants performed two kneelings and six prostrations before Jumang and the spring ox. An attendant raised a vessel, poured wine, and handed it to the presiding official, who accepted the wine and poured it onto the ground as an offering three times, then again performed two kneelings and six prostrations before bowing to the spring ox.

Once the rite was completed, Jumang and the spring ox were escorted back into the city. Qing-dynasty regulations made the ceremony even more formalized: officials at the prefectural, subprefectural, and county levels were required to wear court dress and personally attend the rite in the eastern suburbs. When the exact hour of Beginning of Spring arrived, they performed one kneeling and three prostrations. After returning to the city, the spring ox and the image of Jumang were installed in a public office for the people to view.

Welcoming Spring was followed by another stage known as “进春”, in which local officials escorted the spring ox and Jumang into the government hall and presented wine and fruit as offerings. Afterward came the “鞭春”, or Whipping Spring, ceremony, which completed the entire sequence.

Before the Song dynasty, Welcoming Spring existed mainly as an official sacrificial rite. From the Song and Yuan periods onward, more popular elements were gradually incorporated, transforming it into a large seasonal celebration shared by officials and commoners. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the event had also become an important occasion for local officials to display their commitment to agriculture and to strengthen ties with local elites and ordinary residents.

The origins of the spring-welcoming rite can be traced back to the Western Zhou dynasty. The term “立春” itself first appears in Zhou-period texts. According to the *Zhouli*, whenever Beginning of Spring arrived, the Zhou ruler personally led high officials, feudal lords, and scholar-officials to the eastern suburbs for a grand spring-welcoming ceremony, rewarding ministers and extending benefits to the people.

The *Liji · Yueling* gives a detailed description of the Zhou ceremony:

“立春之日，天子亲率三公九卿，诸侯大夫，以迎春于东郊”

The deities worshipped in the rite were the Azure Emperor and Jumang, both associated with spring. The Zhou court also observed a strict period of purification: three days before Beginning of Spring, the Son of Heaven began fasting and preparing himself, and the formal ceremony was held only on the day of the solar term.

After the Eastern Han, both court and common society widely observed spring customs at Beginning of Spring. Women cut colored silk into swallow shapes to wear as ornaments or decorated their hair with spring banners and spring emblems, while the characters “宜春” were pasted on doors. By then, Beginning of Spring had already become more than a solar term; it had taken on the character of a festival.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, ministers from the chancellor downward entered the court on Beginning of Spring to offer congratulations. Ming- and Qing-dynasty court ceremonies for both Welcoming Spring and whipping the spring ox were highly elaborate. From the Zhou dynasty to the Qing, the rite continued for nearly three thousand years, making it one of the longest-lasting official sacrificial traditions in Chinese history.

Today, many cities organize spring-welcoming cultural activities around Beginning of Spring. Local cultural centers and museums often publish announcements in advance. Ancient capitals such as Beijing, Xi’an, and Nanjing regularly stage historical spring-welcoming procession reenactments.

The Jiuhua Beginning of Spring Festival in Jiuhua Township, Quzhou, Zhejiang preserves the full spring-welcoming sequence and has been included in China’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage. Visitors can watch the procession from designated viewing areas, and some venues allow the public to follow the ceremonial group toward the ritual square.

Whipping the Spring Ox, also known as “打春” or “鞭春”, is one of the most symbolically powerful rituals of Beginning of Spring. The spring ox was traditionally made from earth, and striking it with a whip announced the beginning of spring cultivation and symbolically urged draft cattle back into the fields.

The custom can be traced to the earthen-ox element of Zhou spring-welcoming rites. By the Han dynasty at the latest, records already describe earthen oxen and figures of plowmen displayed outside city gates. During the Tang dynasty, whipping spring gradually became institutionalized. Under Emperor Renzong of Song, the court issued the 《土牛经》, which standardized the form, colors, and dimensions of the spring ox throughout the empire, formally codifying the custom.

The construction of the spring ox followed highly detailed rules. Mulberry wood was used for the frame, and after Winter Solstice the figure was modeled from earth on a designated chen day. Its height of four *chi* symbolized the four seasons; its length of eight *chi* represented the four seasons and eight seasonal nodes; and its tail, one *chi* and two *cun* long, symbolized the twelve months of the year.

Its entire body was decorated with patterns corresponding to the four seasons, eight seasonal divisions, 360 days, and twelve double-hours. The color of the head was determined according to the year’s Heavenly Stem, the body color according to the Earthly Branch, and the belly color according to the system of *nayin*. These intricate regulations embodied both the ancient understanding of cosmic cycles and the serious importance attached to agricultural abundance and scarcity.

On the day before Beginning of Spring, local officials led the people to the eastern suburbs to welcome spring and then escorted the spring ox back to the government offices, where wine and fruit were offered before it.

Early on Beginning of Spring, prefectural and county officials dressed in official robes and paid respects to Jumang. The chief official then took up a colored staff, also called the “spring whip,” and struck the ox three times. Officials followed in order of rank, while musicians beat drums to heighten the ceremony.

In some regions, officials also held plows and symbolically demonstrated the act of plowing, formally inaugurating spring cultivation. During the whipping, either the Five Grains packed inside the belly of a papier-mâché spring ox or fragments of earth from an earthen ox scattered in all directions, and the crowd surged forward to seize them.

Folk belief held that earth from the ox’s head brought especially good fortune, earth from the body benefited silkworm raising, and earth from the horns foretold a good harvest. Bringing pieces of the spring ox home and scattering them in the cattle shed was believed to encourage livestock reproduction, while scattering them in one’s fields was thought to ensure a good harvest.

The Tang poet Yuan Zhen captured precisely this scene in the phrase “争土盖春蚕”, describing people scrambling for the fragments of earth. Women would also carry small children around the spring ox three times, which was believed to dispel illness and avert misfortune.

The custom survives most completely in Neixiang, Henan. The local tradition of striking the spring ox was included in 2016, together with the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and in 2021 it was included in China’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Funing in Jiangsu and Yixian in Liaoning also continue the tradition. In Yixian, participants sing:

“一鞭风调雨顺，二鞭国泰民安，三鞭天子万年春”

The chant combines agricultural hopes for favorable weather with wishes for national peace and prosperity. From the late Qing onward, earthen oxen were gradually replaced in many places by papier-mâché forms, while the ceremony itself shifted from official organization to popular initiative, adding processions carrying Jumang and the spring ox as well as songs welcoming spring.

The origin of whipping the spring ox can be traced to the record in the *Zhouli · Yueling* concerning “出土牛以送寒气”—bringing out an earthen ox to send away the cold. Originally, earthen oxen were produced during the last month of winter, the twelfth lunar month, to drive away winter chill.

The Song scholar Gao Cheng wrote in *Shiwu Jiyuan*:

“周公始制立春土牛，盖出土牛以示农耕早晚”

This suggests that the custom was already associated with the Western Zhou. Later, its timing moved from winter to spring and became integrated with the broader Welcoming Spring ceremony.

The practice flourished during the Tang and Song dynasties. Yuan Zhen’s poem *Shengchun* includes the lines:

“鞭牛县门外，争土盖春蚕”

Under Emperor Renzong of Song, the publication of the 《土牛经》 standardized the appearance, color, and dimensions of the spring ox across the empire, allowing the custom to spread more widely and become a major component of seasonal folk culture.

The Ming and Qing dynasties continued the tradition in full. Liu Tong and Yu Yizheng recorded in the Ming work *Dijing Jingwulüe*:

“立春候，府县官吏具公服，礼勾芒，各以彩杖鞭牛者三，劝耕也”

The Qing writer Fucha Dunchong likewise wrote in *Yanjing Suishiji*:

“引春牛而击之，曰打春”

Every sixth lunar month during the Qing dynasty, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau calculated the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches of the coming year to determine the colors and appearance of the spring ox and Jumang. These were drawn into a 《春牛芒神图》, distributed to prefectures, subprefectures, and counties throughout the empire, which then produced local figures according to the official design.

Neixiang County Government in Henan stages an annual Intangible Cultural Heritage performance of the spring-ox ceremony at Beginning of Spring. Visitors can watch the complete ritual and take part in scrambling for fragments of the spring ox. Funing in Jiangsu and Yixian in Liaoning also hold spring-striking performances.

Many folk-culture attractions offer simplified versions during Beginning of Spring, allowing visitors to hold a colored whip, symbolically strike the spring ox three times, and make a wish for the new year. It is advisable to check announcements from local cultural and tourism authorities in advance.

Biting Spring is the Beginning of Spring food tradition most closely woven into everyday life. As early as the Eastern Han text *Simín Yueling*, there is a record that “立春日食生菜，取迎新之意”—on Beginning of Spring, people ate fresh greens to welcome renewal.

The Tang work *Sishi Baojing* states:

“立春日，都人做春饼、生菜，号‘春盘’”

By the Ming and Qing dynasties, people of every social rank chewed radishes on Beginning of Spring, calling the custom “咬春.” Folk belief held that biting into a raw radish on this day could dispel spring fatigue, prevent skin ailments, and keep illness away throughout the year.

The saying “咬得草根断，则百事可做” uses the image of biting through tough grass roots to symbolize determination in overcoming hardship.

The central foods of Biting Spring are spring pancakes and the spring platter. Spring pancakes are thin wheat-flour pancakes made by scalding the dough with boiling water, rolling it into thin rounds, and cooking them on a flat surface. Shaped like lotus leaves, they are also called lotus-leaf pancakes.

Once cooked, each pancake can be separated through the middle into two layers, thin as cicada wings yet pliable and resilient. The Qing gastronome Yuan Mei described them in *Suiyuan Shidan* as:

“薄若蝉翼，大若茶盘，柔腻绝伦”

The spring platter combines spring pancakes with fresh seasonal greens and cooked vegetables. Its origins lie in the Five Pungent Vegetables Platter of the Jin dynasty.

The Five Pungents originally referred to pungent greens such as scallions, garlic, chives, rapeseed greens, and coriander. Ancient people believed pungent foods could disperse stagnant impurities from the five viscera and support the rising *yang* energy of early spring.

After the Tang and Song dynasties, the ingredients in spring platters became increasingly varied. Su Shi’s poem *Spring Vegetables* lists turnip, shepherd’s purse, young chive shoots, sweet wormwood, spinach, chrysanthemum, and *yinchen*, showing that by the Song dynasty the spring platter was no longer limited to five pungent vegetables: any tender early-spring greens could be included.

Li Shizhen explained the symbolism in the Ming *Bencao Gangmu*:

“五辛菜，乃元旦立春，以葱、蒜、韭、蓼、蒿、芥辛嫩之菜，杂合食之，取迎新之义”

Because “辛” and “新” are homophones in Chinese, eating the spring platter also came to symbolize leaving the old behind and welcoming the new.

In northern China, spring pancakes are traditionally wrapped around “炒合菜”, a stir-fried mixture of bean sprouts, spinach, yellow chives, glass noodles, shredded meat, and other ingredients. The roll is eaten from one end all the way to the other, symbolizing completeness “有头有尾.”

In southern China, fried spring rolls are more common: thin wrappers are filled, rolled, and fried until golden and crisp. Folk tradition says that eating spring pancakes and the vegetables wrapped inside them will help crops flourish and livestock thrive.

Around Quanzhou in Fujian, runbing, also called thin pancakes, are made with extremely delicate wrappers filled with colorful seasonal vegetables. The dish is known as “包金包银”, “wrapping gold and silver,” symbolizing the attraction of wealth and blessings.

The origins of Biting Spring can be traced to the Five Pungent Vegetables Platter of the Jin dynasty. *Fengtu Ji* identifies the five pungent vegetables as scallion, garlic, chives, rapeseed greens, and coriander. Research generally regards the later spring platter as an evolution of this Wei–Jin tradition.

By the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Five Pungents had already become a seasonal food of Beginning of Spring. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the custom evolved into eating the spring platter.

Du Fu wrote in his poem *Beginning of Spring*:

“春日春盘细生菜，忽忆两京全盛时。盘出高门行白玉，菜传纤手送青丝”

The poem shows that spring pancakes and fresh greens served as a spring platter were already fashionable in the Tang.

By the Song dynasty, the custom became still more widespread. After the Ming and Qing periods, the term “咬春” came to refer especially to eating radish on Beginning of Spring.

The Ming text *Zhuozhong Zhi* by Liu Ruoyu records:

“至次日立春之时，无贵贱皆嚼萝卜”

calling the practice “咬春.”

Fucha Dunchong’s Qing work *Yanjing Suishiji* likewise records:

“打春即立春，是日富家多食春饼，妇女等多买萝卜而食之，曰‘咬春’，谓可以却春困也”

Pan Rongbi’s Qing *Dijing Suishi Jisheng* gives an even fuller description:

“新春日献辛盘。虽士庶之家，亦必割鸡豚，炊面饼，而杂以生菜、青韭菜、羊角葱，冲和合菜皮，兼生食水红萝卜，名曰‘咬春’”

The term spring roll first appears in the Southern Song work *Mengliang Lu* by Wu Zimu. Today, golden, crisp spring rolls remain one of the best-loved foods associated with Chinese seasonal cuisine.

Biting Spring is one of the easiest Beginning of Spring customs to experience. On the day itself, spring-pancake wrappers can be purchased from supermarkets and made into rolls at home; bean sprouts, chives, shredded egg, and sliced braised meat are especially suitable fillings.

In major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, restaurants specializing in northern Chinese cuisine often offer seasonal spring-pancake menus around Beginning of Spring. In southern regions, spring rolls can be found at breakfast stalls and snack shops.

For a more traditional spring-platter experience, fresh vegetables such as shredded scallion, chopped chives, and shredded radish can be arranged on a plate and eaten together.

Pasting “宜春” is an ancient Beginning of Spring tradition centered on written blessings. The Northern and Southern Dynasties text *Jingchu Suishiji* already records:

“立春之日，悉剪彩为燕以戴之，贴‘宜春’二字”

The phrase “宜春” carries the sense of “may spring be favorable” or “may all be well in spring.” People wrote the two characters on strips of red paper and pasted them on doors, windows, and walls in order to welcome spring and receive blessings.

The custom was particularly popular in Tang Chang’an, where people displayed both written and painted auspicious spring decorations on their doors. The written pieces were called “宜春字”, and the paintings “宜春画.”

During the Song dynasty, 宜春帖, or “Yichun slips,” became popular even within the imperial palace. On the eve of Beginning of Spring, court writers were busy composing special spring inscriptions for the inner court. The 宜春帖 later gradually evolved into the square red “福” character decorations pasted during the Spring Festival.

In traditional society, writing “宜春” on Beginning of Spring was also an important part of a child’s first writing ceremony of the new year. Under the guidance of elders, children would take up the brush for the first time that year, expressing hopes that they would grow intelligent and diligent in their studies.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, some scholarly families paired 宜春 with auspicious verses, giving the custom both calligraphic beauty and a blessing function.

The 宜春 custom has a long history. The practice of cutting colored silk and pasting the characters 宜春 as a way of “decorating spring” first appears in records of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Zong Lin of the Liang dynasty wrote in *Jingchu Suishiji*:

“立春之日，悉剪彩为燕以戴之，帖（贴）‘宜春’二字”

Commentaries identify the colored swallow ornament as a form of hehuan luosheng.

Fu Xian of the Western Jin wrote in his *Rhapsody on the Swallow*:

“衔青书以赞时，著宜春之嘉祉”

showing that wearing swallow ornaments and pasting 宜春 at Beginning of Spring has a history approaching two thousand years.

The Yichun slip is also regarded as one of the earliest sources of the later Spring Festival couplet tradition and was sometimes called a “spring writing.” During the Tang dynasty, people commonly hung spring banners, wore seasonal ornaments, and pasted 宜春 to celebrate the arrival of spring.

The Tang poet Wei Zhuang wrote:

“雪圃乍开红菜甲，彩幡新翦绿杨丝。殷勤为作宜春曲，题向花笺帖绣楣”

During the Song dynasty, Yan Shu wrote “青幡乍帖宜春字”; Wang Anshi wrote:

“物以终为始，人从故得新。迎阳朝翦彩，守岁夜倾银”

and Xin Qiji’s *Hangong Chun · Beginning of Spring* contains the line:

“春已归来，看美人头上，袅袅春幡”

By the Ming and Qing dynasties, local gazetteers and literary collections recorded many further expressions of spring celebration.

The custom also influenced the wider East Asian cultural sphere: Japan and the Korean Peninsula developed comparable traditions of writing and displaying auspicious characters at Beginning of Spring.

On Beginning of Spring, one can simply write or paste the characters “宜春” on the doors or windows of one’s home. Red paper with black or gold ink may be used, making this one of the simplest ways to welcome spring.

Many cultural centers and museums organize public “写宜春” activities during the season, providing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, often with calligraphy teachers offering guidance.

Wearing the Spring Rooster is a child-rearing custom associated with Beginning of Spring in places such as Tongchuan, Shaanxi.

On the day of Beginning of Spring, mothers sew a small rooster about three centimeters long from brightly colored cloth and attach it to the top of a child’s hat. This is called “戴春鸡.”

Because “鸡” sounds like “吉”, meaning auspiciousness, the spring rooster is interpreted as “spring auspiciousness,” expressing the hope that the child will enjoy good fortune, safety, and healthy growth in the new year.

In the Yimeng mountain region of Shandong, the finished rooster may be worn on the sleeve of a padded jacket or attached to a hat, with boys traditionally wearing it on the left and girls on the right.

In some areas, women also thread beans onto strings and hang them from cattle horns or scatter hemp seeds and beans over cattle, believing that this could protect young children from measles and other spring epidemics.

In southern Shandong and central Hebei, the rooster’s belly may be stuffed with cotton, millet, or small beans, with a tail made of colored thread and a red chili pepper or soybean suspended beneath the beak.

As society has changed, the spring rooster has gradually become more purely decorative, with increasingly varied and playful designs.

The Spring Rooster corresponds symbolically with the Swallow Ornament: the swallow is the “messenger of spring,” while the rooster announces “spring auspiciousness.” Together, they create a complete image of seasonal dress and blessing customs in Guanzhong.

The Spring Rooster is a long-standing folk custom connected with the upbringing of children. The homophony between “鸡” and “吉” gives the rooster an auspicious meaning.

Beginning of Spring is the first of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, and beginning to wear the ornament on this day symbolizes the hope that a child will be accompanied by good fortune from an early age.

The custom also has a clear historical disease-prevention dimension, particularly in relation to smallpox, once a dangerous and often fatal infectious disease. As a custom connected with infant and child care, wearing the Spring Rooster expressed the hope that children would grow up safely and live long lives.

Existing research indicates that the practice of wearing spring roosters on the head or hat at Beginning of Spring has continued into the present in the Huaihai region. In Shaanxi, Shandong, and elsewhere, one of the most widespread forms remains the “spring rooster” worn by children.

The custom still survives in rural Tongchuan and is closely connected with the region’s deep agricultural traditions. In recent years, the revival of traditional culture has helped restore and spread the custom more widely.

A small rooster can be sewn from yellow, red, or other brightly colored cloth and attached to the top of a child’s hat or to the sleeve, traditionally with boys wearing it on the left and girls on the right.

Visitors traveling to Tongchuan, Shaanxi around Beginning of Spring may find handmade spring rooster ornaments at rural markets. Folk villages around Linyi in Shandong and central Hebei also sometimes organize group activities involving the wearing of spring roosters.

Wearing swallow ornaments is a Beginning of Spring dress custom in the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi. It originated in the Tang dynasty and remains practiced in some rural communities today.

On Beginning of Spring, people cut colored silk into the shape of swallows and wear them on the chest, a custom known as “佩燕子.”

Swallows are migratory birds that return north each spring with remarkable regularity, making them natural messengers of spring and symbols of happiness and good fortune.

In the Chang’an region, many wealthy households traditionally installed a small nesting board in the center of the main hall or beneath the eaves and wrote the four characters “春燕来朝” on it to encourage swallows to build nests. A swallow nesting in the home was regarded as a favorable sign of family harmony and flourishing descendants.

The custom echoes the Spring Rooster: the swallow serves as the “spring messenger,” while the rooster announces “spring auspiciousness.” Together they form a complete system of seasonal dress and blessing in Guanzhong.

The practice also directly continues the tradition described in *Jingchu Suishiji* of “剪彩为燕以戴之”—cutting colored material into swallow shapes and wearing them at Beginning of Spring.

The custom is generally traced to the Tang dynasty, although the swallow held a special place in Chinese culture much earlier as a herald of spring and a symbol of happiness and good fortune.

According to *Jingchu Suishiji*, people of the Northern and Southern Dynasties “悉剪彩为燕以戴之” on Beginning of Spring.

Fu Xian of the Western Jin described the custom in his *Rhapsody on the Swallow*:

“四时代至，敬逆其始。彼应运于东方，乃设燕以迎至”

The tradition became especially popular around Chang’an during the Tang and continued into later periods.

Spring banners, spring ornaments, and spring inscriptions were major seasonal decorations of the Tang and Song dynasties. Spring banners originated in the green-blue banners erected in Han spring-welcoming ceremonies; by the Tang, smaller versions had appeared for wearing in the hair or hanging as decorations.

Xin Qiji wrote in the Southern Song:

“春已归来，看美人头上，袅袅春幡”

referring precisely to spring banners worn in women’s hair.

In Chinese culture, the swallow came to symbolize not only spring and auspiciousness, but also hopes for family harmony and flourishing descendants. The custom of wearing swallow ornaments still survives in parts of rural Guanzhong today.

Swallow shapes can be cut from colored silk and worn as ornaments, with many craft references available for inspiration. Some folk villages in Guanzhong organize collective swallow-wearing activities during Beginning of Spring, allowing participants to wear the ornaments together and join processions.

Visitors to Xi’an, Xianyang, and nearby areas may encounter opportunities to experience this thousand-year-old tradition during seasonal folk events.

The Spring Outing, also known as “出城探春” or “踏春”, is the tradition of leaving one’s home after Beginning of Spring to approach nature and experience the returning season.

As early as the pre-Qin period, the state of Qi had the custom of “放春三月观于野”, while Lu and Chu also had traditions of spring outings.

After the Han dynasty, as official spring-welcoming ceremonies became more elaborate, spontaneous countryside excursions gradually became intertwined with ceremonial spring processions.

During a traditional spring outing, gong-and-drum groups and ceremonial processions from different villages and associations marched at the front, followed by an enormous spring-ox figure carried by four or eight people.

A spring herald dressed as a rooster might lead the procession, followed by a group carrying the giant spring ox. Others dressed as cowherd boys leading cattle, large-headed dolls bearing spring peaches, swallows, and numerous other festive characters.

The procession itself signaled that the time for outdoor spring excursions had begun.

People were encouraged to increase outdoor activity appropriately, stretch the body, and promote circulation in order to support the season’s rising energy. In traditional seasonal thought, spring is the period when liver energy becomes active, so climbing to high places, looking into the distance, appreciating plum blossoms, and observing budding willows were all regarded as suitable ways to loosen the body and encourage the movement of *qi*.

Spring outings have a very long history in China, rooted ultimately in the ancient agricultural rites of welcoming spring.

The *Shangshu Dazhuan* states:

“春，出也，万物之出也”

By the Western Zhou, going into the countryside to welcome spring as all things began to stir had already become part of ritual practice.

The *Liji · Yueling* records:

“立春之日，天子亲率三公、九卿、诸侯、大夫以迎春于东郊”

In the pre-Qin period, Qi had the custom “放春三月观于野”, while Lu and Chu also practiced spring excursions. These agricultural rites of welcoming spring exerted a deep influence on later generations.

During the Wei and Jin dynasties, spring outings developed further. By the Tang and Song periods, they had become popular with both literati and ordinary people.

The tradition forms a continuum with the spring excursions of Qingming: both are traditional Chinese ways of approaching nature and experiencing renewed vitality when the weather warms and flowers begin to bloom.

Spring outings were not merely recreational. They also embodied an older seasonal wisdom of following the proper time and allowing the body and mind to expand with the rising energy of spring.

Today, countryside excursions after Beginning of Spring remain one of the important ways Chinese people welcome the new season.

Once the weather begins to warm after Beginning of Spring, outings, hiking, and flower-viewing are among the simplest ways to experience the custom.

Many cities organize public spring outings on weekends following the solar term; local cultural and tourism authorities often publish announcements.

At Intangible Cultural Heritage events such as the Jiuhua Beginning of Spring Festival in Quzhou, Zhejiang, the spring outing forms an important part of the ritual sequence, and visitors may follow the ceremonial procession.

On the day before Beginning of Spring, two “春吏”, or spring officials, traditionally wore decorated headgear and sashes and walked through the streets calling out “春来了”—“Spring has arrived.” This was known as “报春.”

Regardless of whether one was a scholar, farmer, artisan, or merchant, people encountering the spring heralds were expected to bow respectfully.

In another form of the tradition, a young boy dressed in green-blue clothing and a matching cap stood in the fields beating gongs and drums, singing praises of spring. He then went from household to household announcing the season and delivering either a spring-ox picture or a spring greeting.

Printed in red paper, the spring-ox image displayed the year’s Twenty-Four Solar Terms together with a man leading an ox to plow. This was known as a “spring slip.”

Its purpose was to remind people that the year’s work depends upon spring, that farming must begin promptly, and that the precious season should not be wasted.

When spring heralds encountered shops or street vendors, tradition allowed them to take goods or food freely, while shopkeepers received them with smiles.

Delivering the spring ox was also known as announcing spring, striking spring, or praising spring. Several days before Beginning of Spring, performers might beat small gongs and bamboo clappers while singing spring verses and delivering spring-ox pictures from house to house.

The Shiqian “Speaking Spring” tradition in Guizhou represents a distinctive local continuation of the broader announcing-spring custom. Its history can be traced back more than two thousand years and is connected with official efforts in ancient times to explain the calendar to ordinary people so that they could accurately follow seasonal timing and avoid missing the proper agricultural moment.

The custom of announcing spring has very early origins.

According to the *Zhouli*, “春官” originally referred to an official responsible for the rites and ceremonial affairs of the state. By the Tang dynasty, the head of the Ministry of Rites could also be called the Spring Official.

The term later evolved into a role specifically performed in Beginning of Spring announcing ceremonies.

By the Ming and Qing periods, the practice became increasingly standardized. According to northern customs, on the day before Beginning of Spring two heralds wore decorated headgear and sashes; one was called 春官, the Spring Official, and the other 春吏, the Spring Clerk.

Led by drums, music, and ceremonial guards, they walked through the streets shouting “春来了”, announcing to everyone that Beginning of Spring was about to arrive.

Records indicate that the last official spring announcement in Beijing took place near Dongzhimen in 1910, after which the tradition disappeared amid political turmoil and warfare.

In recent years, announcing-spring traditions have been revived in places such as Beijing and Guizhou. The “Speaking Spring” custom of Shiqian, Guizhou has been included in China’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The custom vividly reflects the close interaction between officials and ordinary people in communicating agricultural information in traditional Chinese society, embodying the agrarian ideal of “敬天勤农”—revering Heaven and diligently tending agriculture.

Many folk-tourism destinations organize announcing-spring processions during Beginning of Spring, which visitors can watch or join.

Beijing and Shiqian in Guizhou hold relatively complete reenactments or performances each year. In rural areas, visitors may also look out for spring heralds delivering spring-ox pictures door to door on the day before Beginning of Spring, offering a vivid opportunity to experience traditional agricultural culture.

The Beginning of Spring Festival is an ancient folk ritual centered on offerings to the spring deity Jumang, as well as Tai Sui, the Earth God, and other deities.

Beginning of Spring was understood both as the opening of a new year and as the closing of the old, so it has long been associated with rituals of both farewell and renewal.

Jumang, the deity of spring, symbolizes vegetation and life and is also associated with the Azure Emperor. Ancient people regarded green-blue as the representative color of spring.

Offering sacrifice to Jumang at Beginning of Spring was intended not only to pray for favorable weather, peace and stability, and abundant harvests, but also to honor him as a deity governing the revival of all things and capable of bestowing longevity. For this reason, the worship of Jumang became the most solemn element in ceremonies of receiving and welcoming spring.

Another practice involved scattering beans and hemp seeds, known as “散痘消诊”, expressing parents’ hopes that their children would remain healthy in the coming year.

When spring arrives, bean sprouts emerging from the soil curve into a hook-like “勾” shape, while the tips of newly emerging grasses carry pointed “芒”. This association helped reinforce the understanding of 句芒 as a symbol of spring.

In Miaoyuan Village, Jiuhua Township, Kecheng District, Quzhou, Zhejiang stands the Wutong Ancestral Temple, the only temple in China dedicated specifically to the spring deity Jumang.

Every Beginning of Spring, the village holds the grand Jiuhua Beginning of Spring Festival, which includes pasting spring-ox pictures, dressing as Jumang, welcoming spring, whipping spring, spring outings, seeking spring, gathering spring, tasting fresh greens, and wearing spring ornaments.

The festival was included in China’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2011.

According to local legend, Jumang came to Miaoyuan Village in Kecheng, Quzhou and became so fond of its mountains and waters that he settled on Wutong Peak, where he spread spring among the people. The villagers later built the Wutong Ancestral Temple to commemorate and worship him.

There is no definitive conclusion as to when the worship of Jumang began. Researchers of the *Shanhaijing* have traced elements associated with him back to the distant Neolithic period.

Jumang was originally an ancestral deity of bird-totem groups among the ancient Dongyi peoples. Through the conflicts and cultural integration of the Shang, Zhou, Qin, and Han periods, the Dongyi were gradually incorporated into the broader Huaxia world, and belief in Jumang was also absorbed.

Jumang thus transformed from an eastern deity of the Dongyi into a shared Chinese deity of spring.

During the Eastern Han, when Five Phases cosmology became increasingly influential, Jumang emerged as a central deity in official spring sacrifices.

Tradition also associates Jumang in the era of the Yan and Yellow Emperors with the governance of spring’s arrival, spring sowing, and agricultural abundance.

The Zhou dynasty already maintained eastern halls for welcoming spring, showing the antiquity of Jumang worship.

According to historical texts, the Zhou ceremony for welcoming Beginning of Spring proceeded approximately as follows: three days before the solar term, the Son of Heaven began fasting; on the day itself, he personally led the Three Dukes, Nine Ministers, feudal lords, and senior officials to a point eight *li* east of the capital to welcome spring and pray for a good harvest.

After the Song dynasty, the divine image of Jumang gradually became more popularized and secularized.

From the Zhou through the Qing dynasties, emperors regularly led officials to the eastern suburbs to welcome and worship Jumang. In the mid-Qing period, the Wutong Ancestral Temple was moved from the mountain to the foot of the slope when the temple complex was expanded and rebuilt.

Today, this ancient tradition survives in remarkably complete form as the Beginning of Spring Festival at the Wutong Ancestral Temple in Quzhou, Zhejiang.

The Jiuhua Beginning of Spring Festival in Quzhou, Zhejiang is held each year around Beginning of Spring and includes a large-scale ritual program open to visitors.

The sequence includes Welcoming Spring, Whipping Spring, spring outings, and other traditional activities, making it one of the best places to experience the full cultural system of Beginning of Spring.

Visitors are advised to check the exact dates and schedules in advance through local cultural and tourism authorities.

Many temples and cultural venues elsewhere in China also hold simplified spring rites at Beginning of Spring, and local announcements may provide further opportunities to attend.