Start of Summer or "lixia" is the seventh of 24 solar terms on the Chinese lunar calendar,(mark) the beginning of summer. This year it happens on May 6. When it arrives，the temperature rises (obvious), and summer heat arrives. There is alsoincrease in thunderstorms, and crops enter their peak season for growth.
It means a lot for Chinese farmers,still carry out their agricultural activities since ancient times (base) on the change of solar terms. The temperature conditions are most suitableplanting early rice around lixia. It's also the busiest season for tea farmers( pick) tea leaves, otherwise they over-matures(成熟).
There are a(various) of customs to celebrate the occasion, such as eating eggs. People believed a round egg symbolized a happy life and eating eggs on the day of lixia was a prayer for a (health) body. They put leftover tea into boiled water together with eggs and the original "tea egg"(create). Later people improved cooking methods and added spices(香料) to the eggs to make them taste delicious. Today tea eggs have become a traditional snack in China.
