Details from a painting about family life in summer, by two well-known painters in the Qing Dynasty, Wang Shimin (1592-1680) and Gu Jianlong (1606-?) Photo: FILE
 

This character refers to summer, the warmest season of the year. It is said that the first dynasty of China is called Xia, because its founders believed that summer represented energy, vitality and life in full swing. The historical concept representing the Chinese nation and civilization is called Hua Xia, in which Hua is used in reference to the “beauty” of traditional Chinese clothing, while Xia signifies the “grandness” of the  ceremonial etiquette of China.

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The lazy days of summer bring out the charm of old Beijing—hot days and cool evenings are perfect for sitting under the locust trees with palm-leaf hand fans, eating watermelons, or simply lying in the center of a courtyard and listening to the chirping of cicadas. These are a few typical elements of summer in old Beijing, where there was no end of summer things to do.

 

Sanfu
Sanfu, also known as China’s dog days of summer, is a term in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. In Mandarin, fu means the hibernation of yin energy (cold air) forced by yang energy (hot air). People started to calculate Sanfu Days in the Qin Dynasty. Sanfu usually comes in three periods from mid-July to mid-August: Chufu (mid-July), Zhongfu (late July to early August) and Mofu (mid-August). The beginning days of Sanfu vary year from year, in accordance with the ancient Chinese dates designated by Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.

Sanfu in Beijing is often a mix of heat and rain, during which the temperature could be 37°C or even higher. The humidity in the air encourages the formation of mold and rot on many things, especially in old houses. This is why it is common to see people drying things on sunny days. As is recorded in Di Jing Jing Wu Lüe, a book of Beijing’s conditions and customs in the Ming Dynasty, “on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, the emperor’s servants had the imperial carriage exposed to the sun in the palace, while common people aired their belongings as well. Old scholars laid out their tattered books in the yard while poor women hung their ragged clothes up to dry.”

People wore quite thin clothes to deal with the heat in summer. Summer clothes, even those made of fine fabrics, were rather cheap. Some young men who could not afford expensive winter clothes would like to buy Shu Luo coats (a fine silk coat), so as to look like rich men. This reflected a bad habit of judging people merely by appearances.

Since it was difficult to preserve meat and bean products on hot days, there was a particular diet during Sanfu. A popular drink was called Shu Tang, which was herbal soup made from Su Ye (Perilla leaves) and Gan Cao (Chinese liquorice leaves), which helped ease the discomfort caused by heat and dampness. In addition, there were different customs for different periods of Sanfu. Apart from dumplings with vegetable stuffing for Chufu, there were noodles for Zhongfu, which were mixed with shredded cucumber and mung bean sprouts, coated with sesame sauce, soy sauce and Sichuan pepper oil. Then came the pancakes with scrambled eggs on top for Mofu.

 

Summer nights in courtyards
The traditional residence in Beijing is called a Si He Yuan, also known as a Chinese quadrangle, which is a symmetrical enclosed rectangular space. At the center is a courtyard, surrounded by four houses. The enclosing wall around the central yard guarantees complete privacy for the family inside.

Because of the large local temperature fluctuations between day and night, it was quite common for the families living in a Si He Yuan to spend a summer night relaxing in the central yard, which was much cooler than indoors.

The central yard was usually decorated with plants and goldfish bowls, with bunches of jasmine flowers or Chinese violet blossoms filling the area with heavy fragrance. After supper, family members and their neighbors might sit together in the yard, with palm-leaf hand fans, enjoying nattering and sipping at Xiao Ye tea (prepared with small sized leaves). This was a traditional routine during summer in the old days.

Some families with girls often grew garden balsam plants in their courtyards. This kind of plant earned its nickname as Zhi Jia Cao (grass of nails, literally), because girls used it to paint their nails since the Yuan Dynasty. As is recorded in Annual Customs and Festivals in Peking by the Qing scholar Tun Li-ch’en, when garden balsam bloomed in May, girls picked its flowers and mashed them up, then applied the paste to their nails. The color was bright red and faded slowly. It was crucial to mix the mashed flowers with a little alum before applying it to the nails, and the nails needed be coated with the mixture for a whole night, otherwise the painting would not be successful.

Another local custom in a Si He Yuan was to replace the old paper attached on the windows with a brand new Leng Bu (cold fabric, literally) at the beginning of summer. As its name implies, Leng Bu refers to a type of loose-textured, green gauze used as a screen in summer to ventilate the room. Inside the courtyard, doors were kept open while bamboo-knit curtains were hung on the door casings, serving as a screen allowing fresh air to circulate through.

Another way to stay cool on hot days was to keep pieces of ice in the room. The blocks of ice were sent by special carriages every morning. They were put in big wooden containers and located in the main house of the Si He Yuan, which was usually inhabited by the head of the family.

In the past, a kind of “cool room” could be found everywhere in Beijing. They were generally called Tian Peng, a shed built with wood or bamboo. A typical Tian Peng was a shed with pieces of reed or wood as its ceiling, surrounded with bamboo curtains which could be rolled up to let cool breeze in. Tian Peng along streets provided perfect shelter for passengers while those built in the yard of Si He Yuan helped families survive the hot summer. The popularity of Tian Peng also brought about huge business in the city. One had to have plenty of money, materials from cedar, bamboo and reed, and a large number of artisans to start the business of building sheds. The most skillful shed builders could make elaborate custom-made buildings, and various-shaped sheds. Tai He Men, the grand formal entrance to the Forbidden City’s Outer Court, was once damaged in a fire before the wedding of the Guangxu Emperor (1871-1908) in the Qing Dynasty. Since there was not enough time to build a new one before the royal wedding, some experienced shed builders were hired to build a temporary one on the former site. It took only two months for those builders to finish the construction. The substitute, which was built with wood, straw mats, cotton and silk fabrics, looked almost the same as the old one.

 

Elephant bath
Watching an elephant taking a bath was a spectacular annual event for people in Beijing during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The royal family used to keep some elephants in the Xiang Fang (the Elephants’ House) near Xuan Wu Men, a gate in Beijing’s former city wall. These elephants served in royal ceremonies and rituals as members of the procession. The Xiang Fang was not open to the public. The commoners only had access to these giant animals when they were taken to the moat outside the Xuan Wu Men for a bath in June. The elephant bath was a grand event for the whole city, hosted by the Jin Yi Wei (also known as the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the imperial secret police) in the Ming Dynasty and Luan Yi Wei (the department in charge of royal processions and imperial carriages) in the Qing Dynasty. Every year, a formal parade led by the officials from the hosting institution came to the Xiang Fang to invite the elephants, with lions and dragons twisting and dancing to drums and gongs. These elephants, with their keepers riding on their back, proceeded through cheering crowds, passed under the Xuan Wu Men, and finally arrived at the moat. The parade played drums to announce the start of the bath and played gongs when the elephants came out of the water. Both sides of the moat were crowded with people, particularly upper-class women, who were traditionally restricted indoors at that time. Watching the elephants bathe was a rare chance for them to engage in social activities.

 

The article is edited and translated from Local Customs in Yanjing by Deng Yunxiang.
Deng Yunxiang (1924-99) is a renowned literary historian, folklorist and redologist (expert of the famous novel, Dream of the Red Chamber) in China.

（edited by REN GUANHONG）