Jingzhe

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Jīngzhé, 惊蛰, is the 3rd of the 24 solar terms (節氣) in the traditional Chinese calendars. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 345° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 360°. More often, it refers to the day when the Sun is exactly at a celestial longitude of 345°. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around March 5 and ends around March 20.^[1][2]

The word 驚蟄 means the awakening of hibernating insects. 驚 is to startle and 蟄 means hibernating insects. Traditional Chinese folklore says that during Jingzhe, thunderstorms will wake up the hibernating insects, which implies that the weather is getting warmer.^[3]

Each solar term can be divided into 3 pentads (候). They are the first pentad (初候), the second pentad (次候), and the third pentad (末候): Pentads in Jingzhe are

China

• First pentad: traditional Chinese: 桃始華; simplified Chinese: 桃始华 (pīnyīn: Táo shǐ huá), 'The peaches begin to blossom'.
• Second pentad: traditional Chinese: 倉庚鳴; simplified Chinese: 仓庚鸣 (pīnyīn: Cāng gēng míng), 'Orioles sing clearly'.
• Last pentad: traditional Chinese: 鷹化為鳩; simplified Chinese: 鹰化为鸠 (pīnyīn: Yīng huà wéi jiū), 'Eagles are transformed into doves'.

Japan

• First pentad: Japanese: 蟄虫啓戸 (Romanisation: Chitchū kei to), 'Awakening of hibernating insects'.
• Second pentad: Japanese: 桃始笑 (Romanisation: Momo Hajime Emi), 'Peach trees start to bloom (smile)'.
• Last pentad: Japanese: 菜虫化蝶 (Romanisation: Na mushi-ka chō), 'Caterpillars become butterflies'.

• Villain hitting

Lim Giong has a 2005 album titled Insects Awaken.

Jingzhe (film) is a 2004 Chinese film directed by Wang Quan'an.