Jīngzhé, 惊蛰, is the 3rd of the 24 solar terms (節氣) in the traditional Chinese calendars. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 345° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 360°. More often, it refers to the day when the Sun is exactly at a celestial longitude of 345°. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around March 5 and ends around March 20.[1][2]

Jingzhe
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese驚蟄
Simplified Chinese惊蛰
Literal meaningawakening of insects
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinjīng zhé
Bopomofoㄐㄧㄥ ㄓㄜˊ
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanizationgīng jaht
Jyutpingging1 zat6
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetkinh trập
Chữ Hán驚蟄
Korean name
Hangul경칩
Hanja驚蟄
Transcriptions
Revised Romanizationgyeongchip
Japanese name
Kanji啓蟄
Hiraganaけいちつ
Transcriptions
Romanizationkeichitsu
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

The word 驚蟄 means the awakening of hibernating insects. is to startle and means hibernating insects. Traditional Chinese folklore says that during Jingzhe, thunderstorms will wake up the hibernating insects, which implies that the weather is getting warmer.[3]

Pentads

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Each solar term can be divided into 3 pentads (候). They are the first pentad (初候), the second pentad (次候), and the third pentad (末候): Pentads in Jingzhe are

China
Japan
  • First pentad: Japanese: 蟄虫啓戸 (Romanisation: Chitchū kei to), 'Awakening of hibernating insects'.
  • Second pentad: Japanese: 桃始笑 (Romanisation: Momo Hajime Emi), 'Peach trees start to bloom (smile)'.
  • Last pentad: Japanese: 菜虫化蝶 (Romanisation: Na mushi-ka chō), 'Caterpillars become butterflies'.

Date and time

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Date and Time (UTC)
year begin end
辛巳 2001-03-05 12:32 2001-03-20 13:30
壬午 2002-03-05 18:27 2002-03-20 19:16
癸未 2003-03-06 00:04 2003-03-21 00:59
甲申 2004-03-05 05:55 2004-03-20 06:48
乙酉 2005-03-05 11:45 2005-03-20 12:33
丙戌 2006-03-05 17:28 2006-03-20 18:25
丁亥 2007-03-05 23:18 2007-03-21 00:07
戊子 2008-03-05 04:58 2008-03-20 05:48
己丑 2009-03-05 10:47 2009-03-20 11:43
庚寅 2010-03-05 16:46 2010-03-20 17:32
辛卯 2011-03-05 22:29 2011-03-20 23:20
壬辰 2012-03-05 04:21 2012-03-20 05:14
癸巳 2013-03-05 10:14 2013-03-20 11:01
甲午 2014-03-05 16:02 2014-03-20 16:57
乙未 2015-03-05 21:57 2015-03-20 22:48
丙申 2016-03-05 03:42 2016-03-20 04:30
丁酉 2017-03-05 09:32 2017-03-20 10:30
戊戌 2018-03-05 15:30 2018-03-20 16:24
己亥 2019-03-05 21:12 2019-03-20 22:06
庚子 2020-03-05 02:56 2020-03-20 03:54
Source: JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System
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Cultural references

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Lim Giong has a 2005 album titled Insects Awaken.

Jingzhe (film) is a 2004 Chinese film directed by Wang Quan'an.

References

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  1. ^ "24 Solar Terms". Travel China Guide. Retrieved 12 September 2017. In 2017 ... The Waking of Insects (Jing Zhe) Mar. 5th Hibernating animals come to sense
  2. ^ Jīngzhé,ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Alphabetically Based Computerized, page 308, by John DeFrancis (1999; University of Hawaiʻi Press Archived 2007-12-10 at the Wayback Machine; ISBN 978-0824821548)
  3. ^ Shu, Catherine (27 February 2009). "South Village welcomes spring with snacks — and an eye on environmental awareness". Taipei Times. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
Preceded by
Yushui (雨水)
Solar term (節氣) Succeeded by
Chunfen (春分)