Weather , 天气 , tiān qì 。
Sunny , 晴天 , qíng tiān 。
Partly cloudy , 多云 , duō yún 。
Cloudy , 阴天 , yīn tiān 。
Rain , 下雨 , xià yǔ 。
Snow , 下雪 , xià xuě 。
Windy , 刮风 , guā fēng 。
Weather Forecast for Ancient China
According to the “Destiny Theory”, the sunrise and sunset and the ebb and flow of tides are natural cycles that occur again and again. People can make more accurate forecasts for these periodic changes. However, people often fail to see the regular sunrise and sunset and the ebb and flow of tides. At this time, people expect to know the irregularities in advance.
Since ancient times, Chinese intellectuals have paid attention to the prediction of astronomy, earthquakes and meteorology. The ancient thinker Dong Zhongshu put forward the slogan “Qu the people stretch out the ruler, and the ruler stretches out the sky”. The first sentence is to obey the emperor. The second sentence is for the emperor to listen to God’s will. Providence restricted the emperor’s actions.
Most of these providences come from ignorance of the sky (such as solar eclipses) and the earth (such as earthquakes), and the unpredictability of extreme weather and abnormal climates such as thunder and lightning, drought, flood, fire, and locust disasters. The ignorance of natural disasters (the emperor) and the (subjects) greatly opened the door for the subjects to express their opinions. In the early days, astronomy and meteorology were not separated. Both astronomy and meteorology have to observe and forecast. Three thousand years ago, my country’s Oracle included records of the actual weather, including wind, clouds, rainbows, rain, snow, frost, clouds, tornadoes, and thunderstorms. After a large number of weather events have been recorded in writing, some intellectuals finally have an understanding of the climate. In ancient my country, observing astronomy and weather, formulating calendars, understanding and predicting climate, the clearest use was to arrange agricultural production, sacrifices and other activities. The inscriptions also reflect that people already have requirements for predicting weather conditions, which are all in line with the needs of agricultural production at that time. As far as the Spring and Autumn Period, the ancients set four solar terms: Mid-Spring, Mid-Summer, Mid-Autumn and Mid-Winter. Continuous improvement and perfection in the future, by the Qin and Han Dynasties, the twenty-four solar terms have been fully established.