Dongzhi (solar term)

Dongzhi
Chinese name
Chinese冬至
Literal meaningwinter's extreme
(i.e. winter solstice)
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyindōngzhì
Bopomofoㄉㄨㄙ ㄓㄧˋ
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanizationdūng ji
Jyutpingdung1 zi3
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetđông chí
Chữ Hán冬至
Korean name
Hangul동지
Hanja冬至
Transcriptions
Revised Romanizationdongji
Japanese name
Kanji冬至
Hiraganaとうじ
Transcriptions
Romanizationtōji

The traditional Chinese calendar divides a year into 24 solar terms.[1] Dōngzhì, Tōji, Dongji, Tunji (in Okinawan), or Đông chí (in Vietnamese) is the 22nd solar term, and marks the winter solstice. The term begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 270° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 285°[disputeddiscuss]. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around 21 December (22 December East Asia time) and ends around 5 January.

In common usage, Dongzhi more often refers to the particular day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 270°.

Along with equinoxes, solstices (traditional Chinese: 至點; simplified Chinese: 至日; "extreme day") mark the middle of Traditional Chinese calendar seasons. Thus, in "冬至", the Chinese character "" means "extreme", which implies "solstices", and therefore the term for the winter solstice directly signifies the summit of winter, as "midwinter" is used in English.

  1. ^ Zhang, Peiyu; Hunag, Hongfeng( (1994). "The Twenty-four Solar Terms of the Chinese Calendar and the Calculation for Them". Purple Mountain Observatory. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.