Find stillness in the spring equinoxBy Hugo Tseng 曾泰元As the lingering chill of Jingzhe — the “Emergence from Hibernation” — begins to retreat, the celestial clock strikes a moment of rare, perfect stillness: the Spring Equinox. In the Chinese intellectual tradition, the equinox — or Chunfen — is more than a coordinate on a star chart; it is a manifestation of cosmic symmetry. The character fen carries a double meaning: It bisects the 24-hour day into equal light and dark and it cleaves the 90-day spring season into two 45-day chapters. While the world uses several variants, such as the formal vernal equinox, the term Spring Equinox remains the gold standard for its clarity and grace. Just as the ancients practiced the “Spring Sacrifice” at the Altar of the Sun to honor the solar light, modern health wisdom echoes a cautionary proverb: “Bundle up in spring” (chun wu).

Source: Taipei Times March 21, 2026 18:32 UTC