每年公历的10月23日，太阳到达黄经210度时为二十四节气中的霜降，此时天气渐冷。霜降是秋季的最后一个节气，是秋季到冬季的过渡节气。在很多地方气温达到了0摄氏度。空气中的水汽在地面冻结成霜，呈现出小冰针和六角花形。树叶开始飘落，虫子停止进食，并准备冬眠。

The Frost’s Descent (Shuang Jiang) is one of the 24 solar terms and falls on October 23^rd every year, when the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 210 degrees. The temperature begins to decline gradually. The Frost’s Descent is the last solar term in autumn and the transition period from autumn to winter. The temperatures in many places drop to 0℃. Water vapor in the air condenses into ice crystals or hexagonal frost flowers on the ground. The leaves fall and insects stop taking in food and prepare for hibernation. 

我国古代将霜降分为三候：“一候豺乃祭兽；二候草木黄落；三候蜇虫咸俯。”此节气中豺狼将捕获的猎物先陈列后再食用；大地上的树叶枯黄掉落；蜇虫也全在洞中不动不食，垂下头来进入冬眠状态中。

The Frost’s Descent was divided into three pentads in ancient times. “The first pentad: jackals making offerings of the beasts; the second pentad: the plants turning yellow and shedding leaves; and the last pentad: all insects going dormant.” During the period, jackals arrange their prey first and eat later. The leaves turn yellow and fall on the ground. The insects stay inside the cave, and droop their heads to enter a state of hibernation.

气候特点

霜降不是降霜，而是表示天气寒冷，大地将产生初霜的现象。

“霜降始霜”反映的是黄河流域的气候特征。秋季出现的第一次霜称为初霜，初霜愈早对作物危害愈大。中国各地的初霜是自北向南、自高山向平原逐渐推迟的。除全年有霜的地区外，最早见霜的是大兴安岭北部，一般8月底便可见霜；东北大部、内蒙和北疆初霜多在9月份；10月初寒霜已出现在沈阳、承德、榆林、昌都至拉萨一线；11月初山东半岛、郑州、西安到滇西北已可见霜；中国东部北纬30°左右、汉水、云南省北纬2°左右的地区要到12月初才开始见霜；而厦门、广州到百色、思茅一带见霜时已是新年过后的1月上旬了。

Climate Characteristics

The Frost’s Descent does not mean descent of frost from sky to ground, but it indicates that the weather is becoming colder and colder and frost is beginning to appear.

“Frost starts to occur in the period of the Frost’s Descent”, which reflects climate characteristics of the Yellow River region. First frost by definition stands for when frost first occurs in autumn. The earlier first frost occurs, the more crop damage appears. In China, the date of first frost is gradually postponed from north to south and from mountains to plains. Apart from the regions with frost all year round, the first appearance of frost is in the northern Greater Khingan Mountains at the end of August. Most areas of northeast China, Inner Mongolia and northern Xinjiang, get their first frost around September. At the beginning of October, frost occurs in Shenyan, Chengde, Yulin, Changdu and Lhasa. Then, frost is observed in Shangdong Peninsula, Zhengzhou, Xi’an and the northwest of Yunnan at the beginning of November. In the regions of 30 degrees north latitude of eastern China, Hanshui, and 2 degrees north latitude of Yunnan Province, frost starts to fall around the beginning of December, while Xiamen, Guangzhou, Baise and Simao do not have their first frost until the first ten days of January of the following year.

霜降养生

“露气寒冷，将凝结也”。霜降节气到来，秋冬交替，气候干燥，一天之中温差变化很大，而霜降节气最容易伤肺伤胃，常出现皮肤干燥、皱纹增多、口干咽燥、干咳少痰、甚至会毛发脱落和大便秘结等,所以养生的重点是养阴防燥、润肺益胃。下面就介绍一些霜降节气的养生注意事项：

Health Preservation of Frost’s Descent

“Moisture condenses into dew by the sharp drop of temperature, while dew turns into frost.” The Frost’s Descent heralds the gradual turn from autumn to winter, and the weather is dry with the widening temperature gap between day and night. The period of the Frost’s Descent poses a threat to lungs and stomach. Dryness is common, including symptoms such as dry skin, increased wrinkles, thirst in the mouth, a dry throat, a dry cough, even hair loss and constipation. Therefore the priority to maintain health is to nourish the yin energy, to prevent dryness, and to moisten the lungs and the stomach. Here are some tips on health preservation in the period of the Frost’s Descent.

一、运动方面

“霜降”前后是呼吸系统疾病的发病高峰，常见的呼吸道疾病如过敏性哮喘、慢性支气管炎、上感等。为预防这些疾病，首先要注意保暖，有哮喘发作史的人尤其要注意增减衣服，外出时可戴口罩，避免寒冷对呼吸道的刺激。其次，还要加强体育锻炼，通过锻炼增加抗病能力，广播操、太极拳、散步、慢跑、登山等都是比较适宜的运动方式。霜降后要减少秋冻，尤其要注意下肢的保暖，不宜露膝，要护足，女性则要注意脚部保暖，不要再穿船型鞋和薄袜，改穿能遮盖脚面的鞋或靴子，以防脚部受凉。

1. Physical Exercise

The period around the Frost’s Descent is often a high-incidence season for respiratory problems including some common respiratory diseases like allergic asthma, chronic bronchitis and upper respiratory infections. Keeping warm can help prevent these diseases. To protect the respiratory system from cold air, people with a history of asthma are advised to dress properly and to use protective masks when they go outside. Furthermore, proper physical exercise is recommended to strengthen the immune system and defend the body against disease. Aerobics, performing Tai Chi, taking regular walks, jogging and climbing mountains are beneficial forms of exercise. People should reduce the chances of exposure to autumn coldness, keep legs and feet warm, avoid knee joint exposure and protect feet against cold. To prevent the feet from getting cold, women are advised to keep feet warm by avoiding loafers and thin socks and to wear shoes with high-cut uppers or boots.

二、饮食方面

“霜降”之时已经进入深秋，中医认为此季节属于五行中的“金”，对应肺脏。因此，此时饮食养生适合的是“平补”。适宜的食物有梨、苹果、橄榄、白果、洋葱、芥菜等。这些食物有生津润燥、清热化痰、止咳平喘、固肾补肺的功效。此时应少吃寒凉的食物，如海鱼、虾、各种冷饮等，以免伤肺引发疾病。

2. Healthy Diet

The period of the Frost’s Descent is in late autumn, thus, TCM practitioners hold that the season is associated with metal in the five elements and the lungs. Hence, “Ping Bu” (plain reinforcement) featuring a mild adjustment is a principle for health maintenance during the period. The reinforcing foods include pear, apple, olive, ginkgo, onion and leaf mustard, etc. These foods are effective to promote production of body fluid, nourish dryness, clear away heat, eliminate phlegm, relieve cough and asthma, and reinforce the kidney and lungs. To prevent lung diseases, people are recommended to eat less food with cool or cold energy, such as, salt-water fish, prawn and various cold beverages.

“霜降”后一般是进补的好时候，谚语有“补冬不如补霜降”的说法，以保暖润燥健脾养胃为主，应该多吃些梨、苹果、白果、洋葱、雪里蕻；少吃冷硬食物，忌强刺激、暴饮暴食，还要注意胃的保暖。“春天吃花，秋天吃果”，白薯、山芋、山药、藕、荸荠，都是这个时节适宜吃的食物。此外，还可以多吃些百合、蜂蜜、大枣、芝麻、核桃等食物，也有很好的保健效果。

After the period of the Frost’s Descent, it is a good time to start reinforcing therapies. As the saying goes, “nourishing your body during days of the Frost’s Descent is better than doing that during winter.” The therapies are aimed to keep warm, moisten dryness, strengthen the spleen and nourish the stomach, therefore, pear, apple, olive, ginkgo, onion and potherb mustard are highly recommended. People are suggested to reduce the consumption of cold and hard food, to quit food with strong stimulation, to avoid overeating and to keep the stomach warm.  “Eat flowers in spring and fruits in autumn.” It is advisable to eat foods such as sweet potato, taro, Chinese yam, lotus root and water chestnut during the period. In addition, lily bulb, honey, jujube, sesame and walnut are also good choices to maintain health.

节气习俗

吃柿子

霜降之后，北京讲究吃柿子。据说经霜的柿子就不再涩了。丰沛饱满的大盖柿不仅造型雍容华贵，色彩喜兴诱人，而且让人联想起“事事平安”、“事事如意”等等吉祥话儿，历来都是北京人眼里的吉祥果。

Customs

Eating Persimmons

A tradition in Beijing is to eat persimmons after the period of the Frost’s Descent. It is said that the persimmons after frost do not taste puckery. The plump and smooth-skinned persimmon is in a fabulously gorgeous shape with attractively jubilant color, which is a reminiscent of the auspicious speech, such as, “everything goes safe and sound”, or “everything comes off satisfactorily”. Therefore, it is always regarded as the auspicious fruit by people in Beijing.

吃鸭子

闽南、台湾地区，在霜降这一天，人们通常要进食补品，也就是我们北方常说的“贴秋膘”。在闽南有一句谚语，叫做“一年补通通，不如补霜降”。从这句句小小的谚语就充分的表达出民间对霜降这一节气的重视。因此，每到霜降时节，这些地方的鸭子就会卖的非常火爆，有时还会出现脱销、供不应求的情况。

Eating Duck Meat

It is a custom to take the reinforcing therapy on the first day of the Frost’s Descent in southern Fujian and Taiwan, which is called “to stick autumn fat” by people of the North. There is a saying in southern Fujian, which goes, “even nourishing all year round is not as good as nourishing the body on the first day of the Frost’s Descent”. The saying fully embodies that this solar term is highly valued by local people. Therefore, the duck meat sells so well in these areas in the period of the Frost’s Descent, and it may even be out of stock or in short supply.

赏菊

古有“霜打菊花开”之说，所以登高山，赏菊花，也就成为了霜降这一节令的雅事。南朝梁代吴均的《续齐谐记》上有记载。“霜降之时，唯此草盛茂”，因此菊被古人视为“候时之草”，成为生命力的象征。霜降时节正是秋菊盛开的时候，中国很多地方在这时要举行菊花会，赏菊饮酒，以示对菊花的崇敬和爱戴。

Appreciating Chrysanthemums

As the ancient saying goes, “after frost, chrysanthemums began to put forth their blossoms.” Therefore, climbing mountains and appreciating chrysanthemums are social graces of this period. This is recorded in All Writings of the Qi Dynasty Continued (Xu Qi Xie Ji) by Wu Jun who lived in the Southern Dynasty of Liang. “Hills and mountains are flush with this flower during the period of the Frost’s Descent”, thus ancient people regard the chrysanthemum as “the flower with perfect timing”, which becomes the symbol of vitality. The period of the Frost’s Descent is the time when chrysanthemum flowers begin to blossom. Many areas in China develop a popular practice of appreciating chrysanthemum flowers and indulging themselves with chrysanthemum wine to demonstrate the love and respect for the flower.

送芋鬼

广东高明一带，霜降前有“送芋鬼”的习俗。当地小孩以瓦片垒梵塔，在塔里放柴点燃，待到瓦片烧红后，毁塔以煨芋，叫做“打芋煲”，随后将瓦片丢至村外，称作“送芋鬼”，以辟除不祥，表现了人们朴素的吉祥观念。

Sending away Taro Ghost

There is a tradition in Gaoming, Guangdong Province, that people should “send away taro ghost” before the period of the Frost’s Descent. Local children build a tower by tiles, and burn firewood in it. Then they destroy the tower to bake taro after the tiles turn red by burning. This is called “breaking taro pot”. After all these, they throw the tiles away, which is called “sending away taro ghost”. This is aimed to ward off the evil spirits and display the simple auspicious concept of local people.

登高

霜降是秋季的第五个节气，每逢霜降来临，北方有登高远眺的习俗。因为秋季山林、高山空气新鲜，大气中的浮尘和污染物较少，而且登高有利于血液循环正常及肺活量显着添加，同时，霜降时节，天高云淡，枫叶尽染，登至高处极目远眺，心旷神怡，还可大大舒缓心情。

Climbing Mountains

The Frost's Descent is the fifth solar term in autumn. During the period, it is customary to climb mountains and look far into the distance in northern China. In autumn forests and on mountaintops, the air is fresh and there are less floating particles and pollutants. Moreover, mountain-climbing helps regulate the blood circulation and improve the lung capacity. Meanwhile, in the period of Frost’s Descent, the high sunlit clouds drift across a clear blue sky. The maple leaves reach the peak with dazzling colors. From the top of the mountain, people look far into the distance and enjoy the refreshing sight with a relaxed mind.

有关诗词（欢迎试译）

《泊舟盱眙》

韦建

泊舟淮水次，霜降夕流清。夜久潮侵岸，天寒月近城。

平沙依雁宿，候馆听鸡鸣。乡国云霄外，谁堪羁旅情。

《秋怀奉寄朱补阙》

武元衡

上苑繁霜降，骚人起恨初。白云深陋巷，衰草遍闲居。

暮色秋烟重，寒声牖叶虚。潘生秋思苦，陶令世情疏。

已制归田赋，犹陈谏猎书。不知青琐客，投分竟何如。

《赋得九月尽(秋字)》

元稹

霜降三旬后，蓂馀一叶秋。玄阴迎落日，凉魄尽残钩。

半夜灰移管，明朝帝御裘。潘安过今夕，休咏赋中愁。

《谪居》

白居易

面瘦头斑四十四，远谪江州为郡吏。逢时弃置从不才，

未老衰羸为何事。火烧寒涧松为烬，霜降春林花委地。

遭时荣悴一时间，岂是昭昭上天意。

译者：张宇