“How the sky looks like”, intriguingly, ended up being the theme of the issue. Perhaps

not for sole leisure to look into the sky, after all, farmers have to be observant enough to

make some modest harvest. Our understandings of the “land”, or topography, will be shared

in later issues.

 

 

Sky-gazing farmers

 

        For “sky”, in Chinese understandings, perhaps lies with physical or meteorological

considerations, roughly trifurcates into three aspects. Pondering on time of the year to perform

any farming work, first, farmers generally consult the 24 Solar Terms, a topic addressed in the

previous issue (the article The P-Journal: The 24 Solar Terms).

 

        The second involves consideration of the locally prevailing micro-climate. Speaking of

climate, one may instantly correlate with those somewhat vast climatic zones. Roughly speaking,

as combined results of latitude (hence solar energy received), altitude (higher the colder), and

distance from maritime influences, prevailing climatic conditions vary. Take the example of

lands of China: region of the north, or along banks of the Yangtze, or that of the South, all

belonging to different climatic zones, varying in terms of temperature, amount of precipitation

(as rain or snow), and wind systems. However, even within South China, facing the rims of the

South China Sea, sites in Hong Kong and even the adjacent Shenzhen, thanks to precise location

or aspect, also shows some contrasts. Various localities in Hong Kong can differ in temperatures

and rainfall each day and over the year, and local-scale understandings of weather conditions well

require some down-to-earth experiences.

 

        For example localities around Tai Mo Shan, thanks to the slopes, rainfall much prevails in

comparison to other regions (see rainfall distribution graph of 19th March 2017 in below).

“Two degrees lower in the New Territories”, “hills behind, facing the sea”, “onshore winds as moist”,

or “the higher the colder”, all reflect local folk wisdom on conditions of even neighbouring localities.

 

        Another aspect, requiring as much know-how, is perhaps on-site observing and forecasting changes

of the weather, winds and storms, and more crucially, the seasonal shifts. Locally for each early

spring and late autumn, progressing into another season, weather conditions fluctuate under the

shift of the monsoon, and clashes of fronts. Veteran farmers notice the “Shi Hu Feng” (a local term

for strong gusts of northerly wind, often accompanied with thunderstorms; see Suggested readings below);

whereas the emergences of dew in the early morning, hints shifts of the weather, hence time of

irrigation and harvest. For example, during spring and autumn, cool by dawn and dusk, while

in noon much warmer, lettuces ripens much readily, sometimes even unnoticed, and have to be harvested

earlier on despite smaller sizes.

 

 

So does this work?

 

        For generations of farmers, these wisdom of deciphering weather conditions had been relied on, as to

harvest produce and maintain some steady living. However for the recent years, the abnormality in

atmospheric conditions left some of the most experienced helpless, and agricultural productions can

end up some gambling versus the weather, in long run, rendering food productions unconfident.

Or, better pray well under the bright, blue skies?

 

 

Suggested readings

 

Lee, K.-l. (2011) Northwest “Shi Hu Feng” and Northeast “Shi Hu Feng”.Accessed 14th March 2017,

at http://www.hko.gov.hk/education/article_e.htm?title=ele_00027.

 

Lee, T.-c. (2013) Squall lines and “Shi Hu Feng” - what you want to know about the violent squalls

hitting Hong Kong on 9 May 2005.Accessed 14th March 2017, at http://www.hko.gov.hk/education/edu01met/wxphe/ele_squalle.htm.

 

Lee, T. C., Li, K. W. & Lau, Y. H. (2017) Spatial temperature variations in Hong Kong.

Accessed 27th March 2017, at http://www.hko.gov.hk/blog/en/archives/00000209.htm.