Icy summer traditions
The tradition of eating ice at the beginning of the summer has a long history in China. In ancient times, during Lixia, emperors would distribute ice to their ministers, and ordinary citizens would have icy drinks. But where did they get the ice from without refrigerators?
Ice would be cut from frozen rivers during the winter and placed in specially constructed basements. Covered with earth and sealed carefully, some of the ice would be preserved until the summer where it would be used in foods such as ice cream, which was a popular desert in ancient China.
Other Lixia traditions include singing various folk songs, all with auspicious verses marking the event. People would weigh themselves on Lixia and then weigh themselves again when the summer passed, to see how many pounds they lost during the scorching season.(Photo/CGTN)
