Chinese cultural term · reviewed 2026-10-21
春分
Spring Equinox
chūn fēn · spring division
The spring solar term when day and night are approximately equal in the Northern Hemisphere.
A familiar bridge
Start from something known.
The seasonal marker English readers know as the March equinox.
Worked example
See the term in position.
Chunfen falls between Jingzhe and Qingming in the solar-term sequence.
Cultural context
What surrounds the word.
It is one of the twenty-four solar terms. In English, “Spring Equinox” is more informative than the pinyin alone.
Boundary
What it does not mean.
It is not the only beginning of spring; Lichun is the conventional beginning of spring in the solar-term sequence.
Inside the portrait
How this term appears here.
The term can appear in the surrounding solar-term context, but it does not independently define the Four Pillars year.