The Origin of "Tie Qiubiao" (Building Up Flesh in Autumn)
Start of Autumn, a traditional solar term, is often associated with the custom of "Tie Qiubiao" (贴秋膘). It was popular among the people to weigh themselves on a scale on this day and compare their weight with that from the Start of Summer to check if they had gained or lost weight. Weight loss was called "Kuxia" (苦summer). At that time, the standard for health was often simply based on being fat or thin. If one was thin, they naturally needed to "bu" (补), or nourish themselves. The way to do this was "Tie Qiubiao", which meant eating rich, delicious food, with meat being the first choice—"using meat to build up flesh."
On the day of Start of Autumn, ordinary families would eat stewed pork. More well-to-do families would eat boiled white-cut pork, braised pork in soy sauce, dumplings with meat filling, stewed chicken, stewed duck, and braised fish.
Origin
It turns out that in the past, people had many customs related to the solar terms, most of which were connected with eating and preventing illness, which is closely related to people's concern for their own health and well-being. "Food is the first necessity of the people," and Start of Autumn is an important solar term, so people certainly did not forget to eat. Therefore, the custom of "Tie Qiubiao" became popular in the Beijing and Hebei regions.
In addition to "Tie Qiubiao", places like Tianjin also have the custom of "Yao Qiu" (咬秋), or "biting the autumn." People believe that eating melons on Start of Autumn can prevent diarrhea in the coming winter and spring. Zhang Tao's "Jinmen Zhaji: Customs of the Seasons" from the Qing Dynasty records: "Eating melons at the Start of Autumn is called 'Yao Qiu', and it can prevent diarrhea." In the Qing Dynasty, people would place melons, steamed eggplant preserves, and fragrant glutinous rice soup in the courtyard to air out overnight and then eat them on the day of Start of Autumn to eliminate summer heat and avoid dysentery.
Start of Autumn is a major solar term that farmers pay great attention to. There is a folk saying, "Sit down at the start of autumn, and you'll starve next spring," reminding people to hasten their farm work to ensure a good harvest. Another agricultural saying goes, "Rain on the 'fu' days leads to drought in the 'fu'; rain at the Start of Autumn means a good meal." There is also the saying, "If autumn begins in the seventh lunar month, all crops are harvested; if in the sixth, all are lost." This means that if the Start of Autumn falls in the seventh lunar month, a good harvest of grains can be expected; if it falls in the sixth, the harvest will be poor. Another saying, "A north wind before autumn brings rain after; a north wind after autumn dries up the riverbeds," refers to the fact that a north wind before the Start of Autumn will surely be followed by rain afterwards, while a north wind after it may lead to a dry winter. For farmers who could only rely on the weather for their livelihood, the significance of Start of Autumn was by no means limited to food.
For Start of Autumn, the focus should be on moistening dryness, and one should be cautious about "Tie Qiubiao". In autumn, as the weather gradually cools, people often experience varying degrees of dryness in the mouth, nose, skin, and other parts of the body. Therefore, one should eat foods that promote the production of body fluids, nourish yin, and are moist and juicy, and eat less spicy and fried food. Autumn is suitable for eating foods that are clear, moistening, sweet, sour, and cool in nature. Cool foods can clear heat, sweet foods are nourishing and have the effects of relieving tension, harmonizing the middle jiao, and tonifying, while sour foods have effects of astringency, promoting the production of fluids, and quenching thirst. Meanwhile, Traditional Chinese Medicine believes that the lungs are closely related to autumn qi. Therefore, one should eat more foods that moisten the lungs and promote the production of fluids, such as lily, lotus seeds, Chinese yam, lotus root, oyster mushrooms, and tomatoes. Thus, it seems that after Start of Autumn, we should pay special attention to regular meals and portion control, and focus on moistening dryness to strengthen the body.