Great Cold, the last solar term in 24 solar terms, comes around January 20 eachyear. In this period, the cold waves from Siberia arrives in China. The snow and rain aswell as the icy cold weather exert a big influence on people's life and transportation.When the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 300 degrees, hens start to hatch, eagles fly everywhere trying to find food and water freeze to the thickest level. Whenthis day arrives, it's time to welcome the Spring Festival. People get busy with buying new things, salting the meat and preparing New Year good. Great Cold represents the end of 24 solar terms and also marks the end of winter.

Traditional Customs
During Great Cold, there are still not many farming activities. In north China, people get busy with preparing the fertilizer. In south China, people are often busy with catching field mouse. Another important day during this period is the "La Ba" Festival. "La" means the last month of lunar calendar and "Ba" means eight. People usually make porridge with 8 kind of mixed grains and corns, i.e. "La Ba porridge", and eat itduring the last month of the lunar calendar.

Healthy Living Tips
Winter is a time for all lives to hide. When everything is hiding from the cold, humanbody's supersession is also very slow. During this period, people should sleep earlyand get up late, and try to save the Yang Qi inside the body.