The traditional Chinese solar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Start of Winter, the 19th solar term of the year, begins this year on Nov 8 and ends on Nov 21.

中國傳統二十四節氣的第19個節氣是立冬，今年的立冬從11月8日開始，11月21日結束。

Start of Winter is the first solar term of winter, which means winter is coming and crops harvested in autumn should be stored up.

立冬是冬季的第一個節氣，意味著冬天來臨，秋天收獲的糧食應該儲存起來了。

Here are eight things you should know about Start of Winter.

一起來了解一下關于立冬的8個小常識。

Beginning of winter or not

立冬標志著冬季的開始？未必。

In ancient times, the Chinese people took the Start of Winter to be the beginning of the winter. However in fact, the Start of Winter is not the beginning of winter in terms of meteorology. The climate every year is different, so the beginning of winter could be quite different. And with the vast territory of China, winter of every area doesn’t begin at the same time.

在古代，中國人認為立冬節氣代表著冬季的開始。事實上，從氣象學上看，立冬這天不一定就是冬季的開始。每年的氣候都不一樣，因此冬季開始的時間也大不相同。中國的國土這么遼闊，各個地區的冬季也不是在同一時間來臨。