For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it's the day with the shortest amount of daylight — less than 12 hours — and our longest night of the year. However, that's not the case for everyone. While it's winter for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, people in the Southern Hemisphere experience it as their summer solstice with the longest stretch of daylight.

Customs of Winter Solstice

After this day, many places in China go through the coldest period, which is called in Chinese, “Shu Jiu”(Chinese:数九). In total, there are nine periods with nine days for each. In the first and second nine days, people keep their hands in pockets to keep warm while walking outdoors; in the third and fourth nine days, people can walk on ice; in the fifth and sixth nine days, people can find the sprouts of willows along the river bank; in the seventh and eighth nine days, the swallow comes back and in the ninth nine days, the yak starts working.

Due to the special angle of sunlight on the day of Winter Solstice, some rare scenery will appear, "Golden Light Piercing Hole"(Chinese:金光穿洞) of the Seventeen-Arch Bridge in the Summer Palace.

The Seventeen-Arch Bridge in the Summer Palace in Beijing is a stone bridge built during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. As the longest bridge in the Summer Palace, it is 150 meters long and 8 meters wide, with 17 arched bridge holes. It spans Kunming Lake from east to west and connects Kuoru Pavilion and Nanhu Island at both ends.

The Seventeen-Arch Bridge is not only beautifully designed but also presents the spectacle of "Golden Light Piercing Hole" in the evening before or after the day of Winter Solstice. Standing on the northwest side of the bridge, viewers can see the golden sunset gradually "piercing" through the bridge holes, as if the bridge holes are filled with bright lights, as if opening the door of time and space. The "Golden Light Piercing Hole" spectacle of the Seventeen-Arch Bridge is closely related to the altitude and azimuth of the sun, the scattering of sunlight, and the artistic construction of the bridge itself.

Before and after the winter solstice each year, the Seventeen-Arch Bridge in the Summer Palace becomes a popular sight which attracting many tourists and photography enthusiasts to take photos.

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