Start of Spring (立春, Lìchūn): Complete TCM Food Guide
Lichun 2027 arrives on Thursday, February 4 in Beijing, which is the late afternoon of Wednesday, February 3 in Vancouver. Nothing outside will agree with it. It'll likely be grey, wet and a few degrees above freezing, and the Chinese calendar will call it spring anyway.
Start of Spring (立春, Lìchūn) is the first of the twenty-four solar terms, the point where the year's yang is said to start climbing again. This guide covers the Lichun 2027 date in both time zones, why the coming Year of the Goat is a "year with no spring," the custom of biting the spring, and what to cook while winter is still very much in the room.
> In This Post: Everything You'll Need for Lichun 立春
You'll get the exact 2027 date and time in Beijing and Pacific time, plus a table to 2030 where Vancouver lands a day ahead of most Chinese calendars. We'll cover why TCM theory hands the season from the Kidney to the Liver at this term, and the "less sour, more sweet" rule that shapes the food.
There's a customs section on spring pancakes, the five-pungent plate, the clay ox and the egg trick, plus a Cantonese-kitchen view of the same week. You'll also find a spring pancake method, NOMSS recipes that fit the fortnight, sourcing notes for T&T and Costco, and twelve FAQs.
Jump to:
- What Is Lichun 立春?
- When Is Lichun? Dates Through 2030
- A Year With No Spring: Lichun and Lunar New Year 2027
- Why Lichun Matters in TCM
- Less Sour, More Sweet 省酸增甘
- Keep Your Coat On 春捂秋凍
- How China Marks the Day
- Biting the Spring in a Cantonese Kitchen
- What to Eat as Spring Starts
- Where to Buy These Ingredients in Canada
- Lichun Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- What Comes After Lichun
What Is Lichun 立春?
Lichun is the first of the twenty-four solar terms, beginning when the sun reaches 315° of celestial longitude. It runs about fifteen days and ends when Rain Water (雨水, Yǔshuǐ) begins.
立 means to establish or begin, and 春 is spring. The 月令七十二候集解 glosses 立 as 建始, a beginning being set up, which is a fairer description of early February than "spring has arrived." It's one of four 立 terms that open the seasons, alongside Lixia, Liqiu and Lidong, the Start of Winter.
Classical texts divide the term into three pentads: the east wind thaws the ice (東風解凍), hibernating insects begin to stir (蟄蟲始振), and fish swim up beneath the ice (魚陟負冰). Notice that nothing has actually come out yet. Everything is moving under the surface, which is the whole idea.
When Is Lichun? Dates Through 2030
Lichun 2027 falls at 09:46 Beijing time on Thursday, February 4, 2027. Pacific time runs sixteen hours behind in winter, so Vancouver crosses over at 17:46 on Wednesday, February 3.
| Year | Beijing date and time | Vancouver (Pacific) | Same day? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Feb 4, 09:46 | Feb 3, 17:46 | No |
| 2028 | Feb 4, 15:31 | Feb 3, 23:31 | No |
| 2029 | Feb 3, 21:20 | Feb 3, 05:20 | Yes |
| 2030 | Feb 4, 03:08 | Feb 3, 11:08 | No |
Beijing times are astronomical. Pacific times are converted from UTC+8 to UTC-8 (PST), a sixteen-hour offset.
For a Vancouver reader, Lichun is February 3 in all four years, while most printed Chinese calendars will say February 4 in three of them. The solar term is an astronomical moment, not a date, so go by the Pacific column. In 2027 the term runs until Rain Water begins on the afternoon of February 18 here, which is February 19 in Beijing.
A Year With No Spring: Lichun and Lunar New Year 2027
Lichun and Lunar New Year are separate events on separate calendars. Lichun follows the sun and New Year follows the moon, so they drift around each other and occasionally do something odd. 2027 is one of those years.
Lunar New Year falls on Saturday, February 6, 2027, two days after Lichun. That puts this Lichun in the last days of the Year of the Horse. The next one, on February 4, 2028, arrives after the Year of the Monkey has already begun on January 26.
The Year of the Goat in between contains no Lichun at all. Chinese has a name for this, 無春年 (wú chūn nián), a year with no spring. Folk tradition nicknames it a blind year (盲年) and considers it unlucky for weddings.
It also happens in roughly seven of every nineteen lunar years, because that's how the arithmetic of lunar months works out. If you're planning a 2027 wedding, the calendar is doing math, not issuing a warning.
Why Lichun Matters in TCM
In TCM's five-phase framework, spring belongs to Wood and to the Liver (肝). The TCM Liver is a functional idea, not the organ on an anatomy chart. It's described as keeping qi moving freely, and as something that likes to spread out and dislikes being hemmed in.
The Huangdi Neijing calls the three months of spring 發陳 (fā chén), pushing out the old to bring forth the new. Its advice is to rise early, walk in the courtyard, and loosen your hair and clothing so the body can stretch. It may be the oldest surviving endorsement of a morning walk in comfortable pants.
Yang itself is said to be reborn at the Winter Solstice, which the Dongzhi guide covers, and by Lichun it has reached the surface. The kitchen's job changes from storing warmth to helping it rise gently. All of this is traditional theory and food custom, not treatment, so anything persistent belongs with a doctor or a registered TCM practitioner.
Less Sour, More Sweet 省酸增甘
The Tang dynasty physician Sun Simiao wrote that through spring one should 省酸增甘，以養脾氣: cut back on sour and add sweet, to nourish Spleen qi. Sour is the Liver's own flavour and is considered astringent, pulling inward just when everything is supposed to move outward. Wood is also said to overpower Earth, so the Spleen gets extra support while the Liver has its season.
Sweet here means the mild natural sweetness of rice, Chinese yam, carrots, corn and red dates. It doesn't mean dessert. Sorry.
The second flavour to know is pungent. The Neijing groups pungent and sweet together as flavours that disperse and rise (辛甘發散為陽), which is why chives, scallions and ginger turn up in every custom below.
Keep Your Coat On 春捂秋凍
The proverb 春捂秋凍 says to stay bundled in spring and tolerate a chill in autumn. Spring's climate factor in TCM is Wind (風), and early yang is treated as easy to knock back.
In food terms, Lichun changes direction, not temperature. Meals stay cooked and warm.
How China Marks the Day
Northern China bites the spring. 咬春 (yǎo chūn) means eating something crisp and pungent on the day, traditionally raw radish. The Ming court memoir 酌中志 records that at Lichun everyone, whatever their rank, chewed radish and called it biting the spring.
Beijing and the northeast roll spring pancakes. 春餅 (chūnbǐng) are thin, soft wheat pancakes filled at the table with stir-fried bean sprouts, chives, egg and shredded pork. The fried spring roll (春卷) on every dim sum cart is generally traced back to the same tradition.
The spring plate came first. Li Shizhen's 本草綱目 describes 五辛菜, tender scallion, garlic, chives, mustard greens and wild shoots eaten together at New Year and Lichun to welcome the new season. The exact five vary by source, which tells you it's custom, not formula.
Farming communities beat the spring ox. Officials once paraded a clay ox and whipped it to open the ploughing season (鞭春牛), which is why northern speech still calls Lichun 打春. If your family keeps a Tung Shing almanac (通勝), the spring ox chart (春牛圖) printed inside is the same tradition on paper.
Some people stand eggs on end. It works at Lichun. It also works on any other day with a patient hand and a slightly bumpy egg.
Biting the Spring in a Cantonese Kitchen
Cantonese cooking has no single Lichun dish with the profile of Beijing's pancakes. The term usually lands within a couple of weeks of Lunar New Year, so it tends to disappear into New Year prep.
In 2027 the overlap is almost exact. Lichun falls on February 3 here and New Year's Day on February 6, the week Cantonese kitchens are grating daikon for Lo Bak Go 蘿蔔糕. That's a coincidence of timing, not a Lichun custom, but the north is biting radish that day and the south is steaming it.
The spring roll does the rest. Fried golden, it's read as a bar of gold on the New Year table, and its name still carries the season.
What to Eat as Spring Starts
Chinese chives (韭菜) come first. Pungent and warm in TCM terms, they're the vegetable most tied to early spring. A fifth-century official named Zhou Yong, asked which vegetables taste best, answered 春初早韭，秋末晚菘: the first chives of spring and the last cabbage of autumn.
Scallion, ginger and coriander do the same dispersing job in smaller amounts. They're seasoning, not a serving, so a handful through a stir-fry is the right scale.
Bean sprouts and pea shoots (豆苗) are the literal version of the season. A sprout is a seed in the act of rising, and Chinese food symbolism rarely passes up something that obvious. This Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts and Chives 爆炒豆芽菜韭菜 is modest and hits the spot every time.
Daikon (蘿蔔) carries the biting-the-spring custom. Raw, it's crisp and peppery. Cooked, it turns sweet and mild, which suits anyone who finds raw radish hard going.
Chinese yam (淮山), red dates, carrots and corn supply the "more sweet." In TCM they're sweet in flavour and associated with the Spleen, and they're gentle enough for a family soup pot.
Spinach and goji leaves (枸杞葉) bring the green. Goji leaf soup with pork liver is a Cantonese home classic, traditionally linked in TCM with the Liver and the eyes.
What to Ease Off
Heavy winter tonics come first. Lamb hot pot and rich herbal soups made sense at Dongzhi, when the goal was storage, and tradition considers them too heavy once things are meant to move. Taper them instead of stopping overnight, because it's still February.
Go lighter on sour: lemon water, vinegar-heavy dishes, hawthorn snacks and sour plum drinks. Nobody's banning a splash of black vinegar on your dumplings. The traditional advice is about proportion across the season.
Iced drinks and raw salads stay off the list for now. Go easy on the chilli as well, since the tradition favours mild pungency over the kind that makes your scalp sweat.
A Simple Spring Pancake Plate 春餅
Spring pancakes take flour, hot water and a bit of nerve. Pour 150 ml of just-boiled water over 250 g of all-purpose flour, stir with chopsticks until shaggy, then knead until smooth once it's cool enough to handle. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 12 pieces and flatten each into a small disc. Brush one disc with oil, press a second on top, and roll the pair out to about 16 cm. Cook in a dry pan over medium heat for about a minute a side, until dry with a few pale brown spots, then peel the two pancakes apart while they're warm.
Keep the stack under a clean tea towel so it stays soft. Fill with Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts and Chives 爆炒豆芽菜韭菜, shredded omelette and a few slivers of raw daikon, then roll and eat with your hands. If dough isn't happening this week, the thin frozen wheat wrappers sold for Peking duck do the same job.
Where to Buy These Ingredients in Canada
T&T covers the fresh side in one trip. Chinese chives, mung bean sprouts, pea shoots and daikon are produce-aisle regulars. Goji leaves are less predictable, so buy them when you see them.
Dried red dates and Chinese yam sit in the dried goods aisle, and a Chinese herbal shop (藥材舖) will sell both by weight. For pancakes, check the freezer aisle for thin wheat wrappers if you'd rather skip the dough.
Costco handles the unglamorous half: all-purpose flour, eggs, pork and the big bag of spinach. None of it is specialised, which suits a custom that started in farm kitchens.
In the US, 99 Ranch and H Mart carry the same produce. Elsewhere, an Asian supermarket or Chinese grocery will have chives, sprouts and daikon, and ordinary scallions and radishes are a fair stand-in.
Lichun Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Thursday, February 4, 2027, at 09:46 Beijing time, which is 17:46 Pacific on Wednesday, February 3. The term runs until Rain Water begins on February 18 Pacific time.
Start of Spring. 立 means to establish or begin, and 春 means spring.
No. Lichun is a solar term fixed by the sun's position, while Lunar New Year follows the moon. In 2027 they fall two days apart, on February 4 and February 6.
The lunar Year of the Goat runs from February 6, 2027, to January 25, 2028, and no Lichun falls inside it. It's a calendar quirk that turns up in roughly seven of every nineteen years.
Both, depending on who's asking. The everyday zodiac changes at Lunar New Year. Chinese astrology (八字) counts the year from Lichun, so its Goat year starts two days earlier.
Spring pancakes, spring rolls, raw radish, chives, bean sprouts and other tender greens. Customs vary by region, and the north observes the day more visibly than the south.
Biting Spring 咬春 is the custom of eating something crisp and pungent on Lichun, traditionally raw radish, to greet the season. Spring pancakes and spring rolls count too.
No. Spring pancakes (春餅) are soft wheat pancakes rolled at the table around stir-fried fillings. Spring rolls (春卷) are wrapped ahead and deep-fried.
No. The Liver in TCM is a functional concept, not the anatomical organ, and no food detoxes it. Lichun eating is a seasonal tradition, not a cleanse.
Not overnight. Keep meals cooked and warm, and taper the heaviest tonics over the next few weeks.
Yes, and on every other day of the year. The sun's position has nothing to do with it.
The astronomy does. The weather is still winter across most of the country in early February, which is why the advice is to change direction gradually and keep the food warm.
What Comes After Lichun
Rain Water (雨水) arrives on February 18, 2027 in Vancouver and February 19 in Beijing. The name is honest. Moisture starts to build, and the conversation moves from helping yang rise to keeping the Spleen from getting waterlogged.
Jingzhe (驚蟄), the Awakening of Insects, follows in early March. That's when spring dampness becomes the main subject, and the Spring Dampness and Jingzhe guide picks up from there, with the Classic TCM Spring Dampness Soup as the pot to put on.
Other Start of Spring Recipes To Try
These Start of Spring recipes all suit the same fifteen-day window, from February 3 through to Rain Water on February 18. Pick by how much winter is still in your kitchen, not by what the calendar insists is spring.
- Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts and Chives 爆炒豆芽菜韭菜 for the classic spring pancake filling, built on the two vegetables most tied to the season
- Chinese Spring Soup 紅蘿蔔淮山粟米豬骨湯 for the "more sweet" half of the rule, with carrot, corn and Chinese yam in a pork bone broth
- Lo Bak Go 蘿蔔糕 for the 咬春 radish in Cantonese form, steamed instead of bitten, in the week you're making it for New Year anyway
- Si Shen Tang 四神湯 for a gentle four-herb soup while you taper off the heavier winter tonics
- Ching Bo Leung 清補涼 for a lighter clear tonic once the lamb pot has gone back in the cupboard
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