The ancient Chinese use the traditional Chinese lunar calendar (农历). In it, the year is divided into 24 solar terms (节气). Here are some things you should know about Major Snow (大雪).

Snowy winter

In northern China, there is heavy snow in winter and the snow may last a whole day. The snow flies, and because of it, the world turns all white.

Appreciating wintersweet (欣赏腊梅)

Wintersweet is loved by Chinese people deeply for its endurance (忍耐力) in cold winter. Wintersweet, pine (松树) and bamboo are called the “three cold-weather friends”.

Eating mutton

Usually, mutton is chosen as the main food during Major Snow. It is good for providing protection against the cold. People in Chongqing like enjoying mutton soup in hot pot or stewed (炖的) mutton soup.

Making sausages

During Major Snow, people in southern China make sausages (腊肠). Sausages are usually dried in a well-ventilated (通风良好的) place in the shade. After a week, people can enjoy them.

【推荐2】The winter holiday is coming. What are the students going to do during the winter holiday? We did a survey and this is what we learned. All the students like the winter holiday because there is an important festival—the Spring Festival.

Most students say they are going to finish their homework first. After finishing homework, they can have a good time. During the Spring Festival, they are going to visit their friends and relatives(亲戚). They are going to buy some new clothes and good food. Most students are going to watch TV with their families. Some are going to play computer games with friends. Li Lei is going to travel with his parents. They are going to Hainan Island because it’s very warm in winter. Huang Jing is going to the countryside to see her grandparents with her parents. Yang Fan is going to take guitar lessons. He loves to play the guitar. Lin Juan is going to play ping-pong every day in the winter holiday. She wants to have a healthy body. I hope all of them can enjoy themselves during the holiday.

【推荐3】Do you use emojis（表情符号）? Do you know July 17th is the World Emoji Day?

Now we often use emojis when we talk with friends on the Internet（互联网）. These emojis can make our talks easy and interesting, so many people like using them. Some emojis have different meanings（意思）in different countries（国家）. In Japan, this emoji means "thank you" or "please"．But in the US, it means “praying（祈祷）”. What's more, for Americans, they like using food pictures so "chicken leg" emoji is their favorite. As for Chinese, they use "pandas" more often．

The first emojis came from Japan in 1999. They look very different. New emojis come out every year. In 2019, there are 230 new emojis. We can know things about the world from them. Some of them are about different kinds of people and animals. Some are about interesting things in the year. What is your favorite emoji？