‘Dàshǔ’ (Major Heat) is the twelfth of China’s twenty-four traditional solar terms, marking the peak of summer heat—usually around July 22–24 in the Gregorian calendar. The character 大 means 'great' or 'major', and 暑 means 'heat' or 'summer heat'; together, they literally signify the most intense, sweltering period of the year. This solar term reflects ancient agricultural wisdom, indicating when crops ripen rapidly but also when people must take special care against heat exhaustion and humidity.

Dàshǔ is not just a meteorological marker—it carries cultural weight in folk customs, food traditions (like eating cooling foods such as lotus root or mung bean soup), and health practices rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It appears in calendars, weather reports, farming guides, and seasonal poetry, always evoking vivid imagery of scorching sun, heavy air, and the quiet intensity of midsummer.