[ChinaMaxxing] The Weather We're Having Now Is Called White Dew

Bailu (白露, báilù), or White Dew, is the fifteenth of the 24 solar terms. Its name refers to the tiny beads of dew that begin forming overnight as temperatures drop, turning faintly white in the early morning light.

It's a rather delicate name for what, in Shanghai, mostly registers as: Summer might actually be ending.

What it feels like right now

This year, Bailu falls on Monday, September 7. Afternoons can still push into the 30-degree Celsius range, and the occasional blast of "autumn tiger" (秋老虎, qiūlǎohǔ) heat can keep summer going well past its scheduled departure, with typhoon season still hanging around in the background.

You can feel the season starting to turn, though. Open a window early enough and, for the first time in months, the air coming in might actually be cooler than the air inside. By evening, you might actually want to sit outside again.

That's really the shift this term marks. Days can still feel like summer, but nights are cooling faster, with temperatures low enough for moisture to actually condense on grass and leaves by morning. It's a welcome change of pace after a summer that gave us none.

Things people do (or used to do) during this term

Drinking Bailu tea (白露茶, báilù chá): Tea picked around Bailu has spent the summer growing in the heat but is harvested once temperatures begin to ease. It's traditionally valued for a flavor that's fuller than spring tea but less bitter than tea picked at the height of summer, particularly in tea-growing areas around Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Brewing rice wine: In parts of Jiangnan, people used to mark Bailu by making rice wine (米酒, mǐjiǔ) from glutinous rice. Some families would save it for entertaining guests later in the year, though these days, this is very much a "thing people used to do."

Eating longan (吃龙眼, chī lóngyǎn): In Fuzhou, eating fresh longan on Bailu is an old local custom, based on the belief that the fruit is especially nourishing at this point in the season. One local saying goes so far as to claim that longan eaten on Bailu is as nourishing as an entire chicken.

What's in season right now

Pears take over as one of the season's headline fruits. They're traditionally associated with autumn for their juicy, cooling qualities, especially as Shanghai starts losing some of its summer humidity.

Lotus root (莲藕, lián'ǒu), taro (芋头, yùtou), and Chinese yam (山药, shānyào) are still abundant, while water caltrop (菱角, língjiǎo) is nearing the end of its season.

As for crabs: the less mature liùyuè huáng (六月黄) of late summer are winding down, while full-sized hairy crabs (大闸蟹, dàzháxiè) haven't properly arrived yet. The good stuff is still a few weeks off. For now, we're in something of an intermission.