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Recent Inscription of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms

A total of 33 new elements have been added to the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritages through the 11th UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage that took place at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between November 28 and December 2, 2016. Among the newly inscribed elements, five were jointly submitted for inscription by more than two different countries. The Republic of Korea managed on its own to have its culture of Jeju female divers (haenyeo) inscribed, making it the nineteenth Korean element to be included in the representative list. Korea was also able to jointly have falconry listed as an element with seventeen other countries.

Among the other elements that recently made the representative list were India's yoga, Belgium's beer culture, Vietnam's worship of the mother goddesses of three realms, Tajikistan's oshi palav, Uzbekistan's palov culture, Japan's yama, hoko, yatai float festivals and China's twenty-four solar terms, which is the "knowledge of time and practices developed in China through observation of the sun’s annual motion."

The twenty-four solar terms (hereinafter the Solar Terms) in particular earned a unanimous vote for its inscription by the six hundred or so representatives present at the intergovernmental committee meeting. In an interview with Xinhua News, Chinese representative Ma Shengde (馬盛德) said that "the twenty-four solar terms have been dubbed in international meteorological circles as “China’s fifth invention,” so their inscription as an intangible cultural heritage is a recognition of their worth." Some acknowledge their worth as a long-surviving tradition by pointing out that "they are a great Chinese cultural heritage that took more than 4,000 years to shape and still functions as the Chinese calendar's core after being used for around 2,000 years." Such comments all indicate that the inscription of the Solar Terms has become a cause for celebration for the Chinese.

Yet, when discussing intangible cultural heritages, we cannot help but consider how cultures are spread to and accepted by other regions and how similar cultures simultaneously materialize in completely different locations. For instance, yoga and beer did not remain at their points of origin. Likewise, it is undeniable that the Solar Terms have developed into a common cultural element throughout East Asia. It will thus be necessary to keep such points in mind as we consider the cultural worth of the Solar Terms and the significance of its inscription as an intangible cultural heritage of the world.

Process of Inscription as an Intangible Cultural Heritage

Let us begin by examining the process through which the Solar Terms became inscribed. China already has thirty elements inscribed on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list, making the Solar Terms the thirty-first element to be inscribed for China. Out of the five domains from which intangible cultural heritages manifest, namely oral traditions and expressions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, and traditional craftsmanship, the Solar Terms fall under the domain of knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe. Two years after China signed the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2004, the country placed the Solar Terms in its national list of intangible cultural heritages in 2006. China thereafter selected the Solar Terms as a priority candidate for inscription as a world cultural heritage and began preparing to submit an application.

According to reports by the Chinese media such as the People's Daily, the application process began in early 2014 with support from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center in China. In May 2014, the China Agricultural Museum organized the "working group to protect the twenty-four solar terms" with help from other relevant organizations such as the Chinese Folklore Society and began drafting an application. The working group came up with a "five-year plan (2017-2021) to protect the twenty-four solar terms" and reached an agreement on each participant's duties and responsibilities. Supervised by the Chinese Ministry of Culture, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center took charge of drafting and submitting the application while experts from institutes such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences offered academic advice. The China Agricultural Museum and the Chinese Folklore Society were to act as the main representatives in applying for the inscription. By March 2015, China submitted its file to propose the Solar Terms' inscription, which included the application form, consent forms signed by local communities, and documentation such as photos as well as moving images.

When the Solar Terms’ inscription became unanimously decided, Ma Shengde, an official from the Chinese Ministry of Culture who had been present at the intergovernmental committee meeting, claimed that another Chinese mark has been made on the representative list. Mr. Ma pointed out that “the twenty-four solar terms are an excellent symbol of agricultural civilization in China that has nationwide impact and transcends categories such as nation, region, or culture." Some reports in the Chinese media described the inscription as an occasion to make traditional Chinese culture well known overseas. Other reports included quotes claiming that "applying for World Heritage status is not like rushing to register a trademark, it’s about enjoying cultural heritages together."

The inscription of the Solar Terms has raised the total number of Chinese items in the representative list of intangible cultural heritages up to 31. Such progress is in fact deeply related to government-led initiatives and support. For instance, the Chinese government collected 290,000 material and nonmaterial items or sources related to intangible cultural heritages, textual records amounting to 2 billion characters, 4.77 million photographic images, and 140,000 volumes of books. The number of items designated as intangible cultural heritages at the national level and provincial level respectively amount to 1,372 and 8,566. Among such items, 31 have been inscribed in the UNESCO representative list and 7 are included in the “list of intangible cultural heritages in urgent need of protection.” The total of 38 of items on the two separate lists makes China the country with the most listed items in the world.

Over the next few years, institutions and local communities related to the Solar Terms are likely to make various efforts to protect and pass on the cultural heritage. Between March 28 and 30, 2017, the "Academic Forum on the Twenty-four Solar Terms' Protection and Transmission" was jointly held by the China Agricultural Museum, the Anhui provincial administration of cultural heritage, and the Huainan municipal administration. The event was held in the city of Huainan in Anhui province, the birthplace of the ancient text Huainanzi (淮南子) which includes a description of the patterns of heaven under a chapter titled Tianwen xun (天文訓). The China Agricultural Museum's website has dedicated as an independent section under a category named Agricultural Exhibition to convey details about how the Solar Terms are recognized in Chinese society and what activities are carried out for each term.

What the Solar Terms' Inscription Means for East Asia

Some Chinese scholars believe the origin of the Solar Terms can be traced back to the time of the Xia-Shang dynasties. At the time, the four terms dongzhi, xiazhi, chunfen, and qiufen already seem to have existed. By the time the text Huainanzi was compiled by Liu An (劉安), the King of Huainan (淮南王), in B.C. 139, the definition of all twenty-four terms must have been established, judging by the fact that the text includes a complete description of them. And the names and order of the terms mentioned in Huainanzi correspond exactly with what is being used today. When Emperor Wu of Han introduced the Taichuli, or the Grand Inception Calendar, in the first year of his rule during the Taichu era, the Solar Terms were formally incorporated into the calendar with each term synchronized to a particular astronomical event. These factors alone indicate that the Solar Terms has a history of at least 2,100 years.

However, that history is not without challenges. Once the Solar Terms made the UNESCO representative list of intangible cultural heritages, the media in Egypt released reports that a similar calendar completed by B.C. 2000 has been used nearly 6,200 years ago when pharaohs ruled Egypt, placing the Egyptian calendar four millennia ahead of the Solar Terms. The Egyptian calendar is said to have had twelve different months and offered recommendations on dietary habits suitable for each season. Cultures originating from the calendar are said to have survived to this day in Egypt, which can make it challenging for China to highlight the longevity of its history regarding the Solar Terms.

What is certain is that the Solar Terms developed into a more complete form at the Yellow River. Since astrology and climate changes are closely related to the movements of the sun, the Solar Terms are made from mixing factors from the solar calendar into the lunar calendar. The Solar Terms have been very useful to farming and have served as a barometer for measuring the progress made by an agricultural civilization. It is not particularly difficult to notice through the National Folk Museum of Korea's website that the Solar Terms have also served as a basis of Korean folklore. What is different from the China Agriculture Museum is that, rather than the Solar Terms, the Museum of Agriculture in Korea highlights "Nongga wollyeongga," an old Korean verse on monthly events for farmers. This shows that the Solar Terms are unlikely to have been adopted uniformly across all of East Asia. According to related studies, the Solar Terms does not seem to have carried much practical or cultural significance for Mongolians who have traditionally made their living under climate conditions different from those of sedentary, agricultural Chinese communities.

Regardless of the differing forms and degrees of adoption, the Solar Terms can still be considered a common cultural element among East Asian countries. And their inscription as a Chinese intangible heritage has not yet triggered any visible disputes. Back in 2005, fierce debates over originality took place online between Korea and China when Korea applied for the Gangneung Danoje Festival to be designated a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. In 2012, Koreans accused China of cultural pillaging when China designated as a Chinese cultural asset a version of the Korean folk song Arirang sung by ethnic Koreans in China.

It will nevertheless be necessary to consider what the inscription of the Solar Terms means in relation to their significance in East Asian cultures. And it will foremost be necessary to examine the cultural, regional significance the Solar Terms carry for the Korean society. Some Chinese news outlets seemed to be aware of the fact that the Solar Terms are not a culture limited to China, reporting that the ancient Korean kingdom of Baekje adopted China's Yuanjai calendar (元嘉曆) during the Three Kingdom period and that the publication of Chiljeongsan naepyeon and Chiljeongsan oepyeon demonstrates that Korea managed to develop a calendar of its own centered on its capital Hanyang by the time King Sejong ruled Joseon. The problem is that Korean scholars have yet to study in-depth the achievements made by its traditional agricultural civilization in the context of East Asia and the world. The agricultural encyclopedia Imwon gyeongjeji (林園經濟志) authored by the Korean scholar Seo Yu-gu hasn't even been translated into the Korean language yet. The rapid shift from an agricultural to an industrial society and from a Chinese character-based to a Korean alphabet-based culture seems to have largely disconnected Koreans from their traditions and imposed limitations on their acceptance of western cultures. Even in the case of the Solar Terms, the Korean culture related to them must be sufficiently identified before attempting to compare and exchange views about it with those of neighboring countries.

As per UNESCO's intent, China is making huge investments to preserve its tradition of Solar Terms and establish a sustainable system for its inheritance. Such a move also seems to flaunt that China is the cultural origin of the Solar Terms and seems to be using the tradition to pursue pluralistic integration and national unity in China. In multiple respects, the Solar Terms' addition to the representative list of intangible cultural heritages is introducing a certain challenge to East Asia. Communities in East Asia have traditionally remained distant from one another although they've continued to engage in exchange over time, which has resulted in an East Asian history that shares many cultural factors but still maintains the individuality of each nation. With the development of communication technology and increasing exchange, East Asia now seems to be facing an opportunity to broaden mutual understanding without being swayed by exclusive nationalism.