[Chinamaxxing] The Weather We're Having Now Is Called Chushu

Chushu (处暑, chǔshǔ), or End of Heat, is the 14th of the 24 solar terms. The name is fairly literal: 处 (chǔ) here carries the sense of departing or stopping, marking the point when the year's most intense heat is supposed to begin receding.

In Shanghai, however, late August can still mean temperatures well into the 30s, brutal midday sun, and AC running around the clock. Chushu, then, marks less an "ending" than a loosening – the point where summer's grip starts to slip.

What It Feels Like Right Now

This year, Chushu falls on Sunday, August 23. Shanghai is still very much in "autumn tiger" (秋老虎, qiūlǎohǔ) territory: middays still feel punishing, even as mornings and evenings start cooling off in a way they weren't a few weeks ago.

That gap between day and night is really the tell of this term. You'll notice it most around dusk: a breeze that has some actual give to it, air that doesn't feel quite so used-up by 9pm.

Chushu also sits inside Shanghai's typhoon season, so don't be surprised if a stretch of blazing sun gets interrupted by a sudden, heavy system blowing through – it isn't a sign of anything, just August doing August things.

Things People Do (Or Used to Do) During This Term

Watching the clouds (看巧云, kàn qiǎoyún): Skies tend to clear up more often around this time, with cumulus clouds forming the sort of tall, sculptural shapes people used to sit outside and watch for hours. There's an old saying about the 7th and 8th lunar months being the best time of year for cloud-watching – this is roughly that window.

Releasing river lanterns (放河灯, fàng hédēng): Zhongyuan Festival (中元节), sometimes called Ghost Festival, tends to land close to Chushu on the lunar calendar. Traditionally, people would float small paper lanterns down rivers and canals to guide spirits home – a practice that's become rarer in Shanghai proper, though still observed in some communities and temples.

Opening the fishing season (开渔节, kāiyújié): In coastal towns near Shanghai, particularly Zhoushan, this stretch roughly overlaps with the end of the summer fishing moratorium. Boats set out en masse once it lifts, and the moment gets its own small festival in fishing communities.

What's In Season Right Now

This is peak season for liùyuè huáng (六月黄) – literally "sixth-month yellow," referring to younger hairy crabs eaten before the full hairy crab season begins in autumn. Smaller and softer-shelled than their hefty autumn counterparts, they're prized for a runnier, more delicate roe. Steamed, stir-fried with rice cakes, or paired with edamame, they're one of the more distinctly Shanghainese things to eat in late summer – good until the "real" crab season takes over in a month or so.

As for vegetables, water bamboo (茭白, jiāobái) starts showing up more – pale, crisp, delicately sweet stalks usually stir-fried or simply sliced into soup. For fruits, fresh dates (红枣, hóngzǎo), early chestnuts (板栗, bǎnlì), and sugarcane (甘蔗, gānzhè) start appearing in markets. Pears, grapes, and pomelo continue from Liqiu.

None of this adds up to autumn just yet. For now, it's perfectly reasonable to eat your crabs in shorts.