Meaning the “summit of the winter,” Dongzhi, or Winter Solstice is not necessarily the coldest period of winter, but it is definitely the most important of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar.
冬至，不一定是冬天最冷的时候，但它绝对是中国农历二十四节气中最重要的一个。
Dongzhi is the 22nd solar term of a year, which when the daytime is shortest and night is longest. It was also the first settled solar term in the Chinese history. 冬至是一年中第22个节气，白天最短，夜晚最长。这也是中国历史上第一个固定的节气。Though the day of Dongzhi may not be that cold, it kicks off the period of time known in Chinese as “Shujiu Hantian,” believed to be the coldest 81 days which could be divided into nine units of “nine-days.”虽然冬至那一天可能没有那么冷，但它开启了中国人称为“数九寒天”的一段时间，据信这是最冷的81天，每九天为一“九”，共九个“九”。
The Chinese character “nine,” which has the same pronunciation with the word for “long,” is considered as the largest number in ancient China, and was bestowed with the meaning of “maximum” and “extreme.” The “Shujiu Hantian” is, therefore, the ancient Chinese people’s way of describing how long and harsh the winter could be. 汉字“九”与“久”的发音相同，被认为是中国古代最大的数字，被赋予了“最大”和“极”的含义。因此，“数九寒天”是古代中国人描述冬天有多漫长和寒冷的方式。Here are nine things you should know about Winter Solstice.
The Winter Solstice FestivalThere was a saying in ancient China, "The Winter Solstice is as significant as the Spring Festival."古代民间有俗语曰：“冬至大如年。”由此可见冬至这一节气的重要性。As early as the Zhou Dynasty, people worshipped the gods on the first day of the Winter Solstice, which also was the 1st day of the new year. The Winter Solstice became a winter festival during the Han Dynasty.早在周朝（前1046年-前256年），人们会在冬至的第一天祭神，这一天也会被当作新年第一天。在汉代（公元前206年-220年），冬至成为了一个冬季节日。
When midwinter arrives, vital movement begins to decline and calm down. In this period, eating an appropriate amount of nuts, such as peanuts, walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts and almonds, is good for one's body.当冬至到来时，因为温度低，人体活动开始变少。在这期间，适量吃坚果，如花生、核桃、栗子、榛子和杏仁，对身体很有益处。Traditional Chinese medical science teaches that the quality of a nut is tepidity and most nuts have the function of nourishing the kidneys and strengthening the brain and heart.中国传统医学认为，坚果的性质是温热的，大多数坚果都可以养肾、强化大脑和心脏功能。During Winter Solstice in North China, eating dumplings is essential to the festival. There is a saying that goes "Have dumplings on the first day of Winter Solstice and noodles on the first day of Summer Solstice."在中国北方，冬至吃饺子是必不可少的习俗。有句话说“冬至饺子夏至面”。People in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, are accustomed to eating wontons in midwinter.According to legend, during the midwinter feast 2,500 years ago, the King of Wu (one of the states during the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period) was disgusted with all kinds of costly foods and wanted to eat something different.据传说，在2500年前的冬至宴上，吴王厌恶了各种昂贵的食物，想要吃一些与众不同的东西。Then, the beauty Xishi came into the kitchen to make "wontons" to honor the king's wish. He ate a lot and liked the food very much. To commemorate Xishi, the people of Suzhou made wontons the official food to celebrate the festival.美女西施来到厨房做了馄饨，满足了吴王的口腹之欲。他非常喜欢而且吃了很多。为了纪念西施，苏州人把馄饨作为官方食物来庆祝这个节日。
In places such as Shanghai, people eat tangyuan, a kind of stuffed small dumpling ball made of glutinous rice flour, to celebrate Winter Solstice.Eating mutton and vermicelli soupIn Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, people call midwinter the "Ghost Festival".On that day, it is customary for people there to drink mutton and vermicelli soup and eat the dumplings in the soup. They give the midwinter soup a strange name - "brain" - and share it with their neighbors.在那一天，那里的人们习惯喝羊肉粉丝汤，吃汤里的饺子。他们给冬至汤起了一个奇怪的名字——“脑”，并和邻居们分享。
During the Winter Solstice, Hangzhou residents traditionally eat rice cakes. In the past, before the approach of the winter solstice, every household would make the cakes to worship their ancestors or use as gifts for relatives and friends.冬至的时候，杭州人会吃年糕。在过去，在冬至来临之前，每家每户都会做糕点来祭拜祖先或作为馈赠亲友的礼物。Today, though fewer families eat homemade cakes, people there still buy rice cakes for the Winter Solstice Festival.现在，虽然很少有家庭吃自制的年糕，但那里的人们仍然会为冬至而专门采购年糕。
Offering nine-layer cakes to ancestorsTaiwan residents keep the custom of offering nine-layer cakes to their ancestors. People with the same surname or family clan gather at their ancestral temples to worship their ancestors in order of their ages. After the sacrificial ceremony, there is always a grand banquet.东南沿海及台湾地区的人们仍保持着用九层糕祭祖的习俗。同姓或同族的人聚集在他们的祠堂，长幼有序的拜祭祖先。通常在祭祀仪式之后，会有一个盛大的聚会。Eating red-bean and glutinous riceIn some regions south of the Yangtze River on the first day of Winter Solstice, the whole family gets together to have a meal made of red bean and glutinous rice to drive away ghosts and other evil things.在长江以南的一些地方，冬至的第一天，全家人会聚在一起吃红豆糯米饭，他们认为可以起到驱邪避邪的作用。