The 24 Solar Terms Plaza was to commemorate the creation of the calendar by Emperor Yao. In order to master the laws of nature and the secrets of climate change, Emperor Yao organized the observation of the laws of nature, recorded and summarized them, and assigned a special person to do the job. In the ancient times, when a nation was established, the observation of the heavens was a matter of urgency. In later times, the state was established to rule the people as a matter of priority. The creation of the calendar was a key step for the ancient people to step out of obscurity.
According to the Yao Dian, Emperor Yao ordered Xizhong to live in the Yanggu in the east to identify and measure the rising of the sun in the east. The day and night are of equal length, and the Seven constellations of southern rosefinch appear due south at dusk, determining the vernal equinox. He asked Xishu to live in the Jiaozhi in the south to discern and measure the sun's movement to the south. The days are the longest. The Antares in the Seven Constellations of the Oriental Black Dragon appears in the south at dusk, confirming the summer solstice. He sent Zhonghe to live in the Meigu in the west, to identify and determine the time of sunset. The day and night are of equal length, and the Dhanistha in the seven northern Xuanwu constellations appears at dusk directly south of the sky to determine the autumnal equinox. He also sent Heshu to live in the Youdu in the north to observe the sun's northward movement. The time of daylight is the shortest. The Pleiades star in the Western White Tiger Seven Constellations appears due south at dusk, confirming the winter solstice.
After determining the four seasons, Yao decided to take 366 as a year, and adjust the calendar and seasonal errors with leap months to make the annual agricultural time accurate. Since then, the common people have rationally arranged agricultural activities such as spring ploughing, summer farming, autumn harvest and winter storage in accordance with the four seasonal solar terms, and various undertakings have flourished. The "24 solar terms" that affected China's agricultural production evolved from the reign of Emperor Yao.
Yao set up the earliest calendar in China and gave the people farming seasons to follow, which greatly contributed to the development of productivity. This was a great advancement in human civilization as it enabled people to go from being completely unable to grasp nature to understanding it and using it.
Recommended tour duration: 10 minutes
