Tuesday the 5th of May marks Lixia (立夏), or the “Start of Summer” in English. It is the seventh solar term in the Chinese lunar calendar, with the sun moving to the celestial longitude of 45 degrees on this day. In Chinese, the character “li (立)” means “begin”, so Lixia is also the first solar term that kicks off the hot summer days in China.

For the final week of our Quarantine cook-off, we showed our solidarity for those in Wuhan.

Grain Rain (谷雨 Gǔyǔ) originates from the old saying, “Rain brings up the growth of hundreds of grains.” Grain Rain is the 6th of the 24 solar terms and signals the end of snow and frost.

Winners of Week 3 of the Quarantine Cook-off Xinjiang Dapanji

Wuhan hot dry noodles (Wǔhàn rè gān miàn 武汉热干面) have been a famous part of Wuhan food culture from at least the 1930s, and although this history might not be as long as some of China’s other traditional noodle dishes, they certainly rank in the top 10 of famous noodles nowadays!