Dongzhi (solar term)

Dongzhi
Dongzhi
Chinese name
Chinese	冬至
Literal meaning	winter's extreme; (i.e. winter solstice)
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	dōngzhì
Bopomofo	ㄉㄨㄙㄓㄧˋ
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	dūng ji
Jyutping	dung1 zi3
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	đông chí
Chữ Hán	冬至
Korean name
Hangul	동지
Hanja	冬至
Revised Romanization
Transcriptions
Revised Romanization	dongji
Japanese name
Kanji	冬至
Hiragana	とうじ
Romanization
Transcriptions
Romanization	tōji

The traditional Chinese calendar divides a year into 24 solar terms.^[1] Dōngzhì, Tōji, Dongji, Tunji (in Okinawan), or Đông chí (in Vietnamese) is the 22nd solar term, and marks the winter solstice. The term begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 270° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 285°^{[disputed – discuss]}. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around 21 December (22 December East Asia time) and ends around 5 January.

In common usage, Dongzhi more often refers to the particular day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 270°.

Along with equinoxes, solstices (traditional Chinese: 至點; simplified Chinese: 至日; "extreme day") mark the middle of Traditional Chinese calendar seasons. Thus, in "冬至", the Chinese character "至" means "extreme", which implies "solstices", and therefore the term for the winter solstice directly signifies the summit of winter, as "midwinter" is used in English.

^ Zhang, Peiyu; Hunag, Hongfeng( (1994). "The Twenty-four Solar Terms of the Chinese Calendar and the Calculation for Them". Purple Mountain Observatory. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.

[1] Zhang, Peiyu; Hunag, Hongfeng( (1994). "The Twenty-four Solar Terms of the Chinese Calendar and the Calculation for Them". Purple Mountain Observatory. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.

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