The traditional

Chinese calendar The traditional Chinese calendar, dating back to the Han dynasty, is a lunisolar calendar that blends solar, lunar, and other cycles for social and agricultural purposes. While modern China primarily uses the Gregorian calendar for officia ...

divides a year into 24

solar term A solar term (or ''jiéqì'', zh, t=節氣, s=节气) is any of twenty-four periods in traditional Chinese lunisolar calendars that matches a particular astronomical event or signifies some natural phenomenon. The points are spaced 15° apart ...

s. ''Xiǎohán'', ''Shōkan'', ''Sohan'', or ''Tiểu hàn'' () is the 23rd solar term. It begins when the Sun reaches the

celestial longitude In astronomy, coordinate systems are used for specifying positions of celestial objects (satellites, planets, stars, galaxies, etc.) relative to a given reference frame, based on physical reference points available to a situated observer (e.g. ...

of 285° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 300°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 285°. In the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

, it usually begins around 5 January and ends around 20 January.

Date and time

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020 23 Winter time