The "24 solar terms" (节气) originated and was firstly used in China. It was created thousands years ago on the basis of practical needs of agriculture. Ancient Chinese people used it to guide agriculture production, special climate signs and even healthy living tips. Last year, the 24 solar terms was added to UNESCO's world cultural heritage list. Now, it has been brought to life thanks to a creative designer from Southwest China's Guizhou province.
On the eve of this year's Qingming Festival, Shi Changhong released (发布) his version of re-produced and packaged characters for each solar term in the form of "moving art" of gifts. Since their first release on Zcool on March 29, the gifs have won great praise among the general public and quickly flooded social media with millions of hits during the festival period.
To maximize publicity, Shi released his work in three forms: video, animation and picture. The background sounds add to the brilliance.
"When I watch the short video, I can strongly feel the Chinese-style elements hidden in them. And it is really cool to liven up Chinese traditional culture in such a unique way." WeChat user Xiao Feifei said.
"It is really a comfort to me to see so many people like my latest work. To be honest, it would really surprise me if the work does not arouse great interest among Chinese people. The 24 solar items is a deeply rooted concept that covers the essence of Chinese wisdom. However, only a small portion of people know all the names or the correct order of those terms. My intention is to increase Chinese people's self awareness to learn more about our traditional fine culture. Actually, the 24 solar items work is only a part of my whole design program 'Charm China', which I started over a year ago." Shi told China Daily.
