Today is April 4, 2022, Monday, the day before the Qingming Festival (also known as the Cold Food Festival).
At the beginning of the festival, smoking and fireworks are prohibited, and only cold food is eaten. Over the course of history, customs such as tomb-sweeping, outings, swings, cuju (a traditional Chinese football game), tug-of-war, and cockfighting have gradually been added, spanning over two thousand years before and after the Cold Food Festival. It was once known as the largest folk festival in China. The Cold Food Festival is the only traditional festival of the Han ethnic group named after dietary customs. The origin of the Cold Food Festival, according to historical records: during the Spring and Autumn Period, Prince Chong'er of the Jin State fled to another country for nineteen years to avoid turmoil, and his minister Jie Zitui always followed and supported him, even "cutting his thigh to feed the prince." Chong'er worked diligently and became a renowned ruler, "Duke Wen of Jin." However, Jie Zitui did not seek rewards and riches, and retired to the Mian Mountains with his mother. Duke Wen of Jin ordered the mountains to be set on fire to force Jie Zitui to come out of hiding and meet him. Jie Zitui resolutely stayed in the mountains and ultimately perished in the fire. Duke Wen of Jin, in memory of the loyal minister's loyalty, buried him in the Mian Mountains, built a shrine and temple for him, and ordered a ban on fire and cold food on the day of Jie Zitui's death to express mourning.
As for today, I cannot confirm whether I will only eat cold food. On one hand, I haven't eaten yet, and on the other hand, there probably isn't any cold food available at school. - It's now 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and I had the legendary super spicy beef hot pot noodles for lunch, which was actually okay. For Sichuan people, it's just an average level of spiciness, but I was surprised to find such spicy food in Wuhan.
I suddenly realized that I had written 400 words without getting to the main topic yet. I should summarize what happened in March. The early spring weather in Wuhan is really confusing, with one moment feeling like summer and the next like winter. Spring and autumn seem to have disappeared since the Warring States period. I was always ready to add or remove clothing, but in the end, I didn't catch a cold.
I attended several Python elective classes, which covered basic syntax and were a bit boring, but I also gained some new knowledge. I bought a book on Python 3 web scraping development (second edition) and read about a third of it in my spare time. I also started a GitHub Repo, which I find interesting and should be able to continue with.
At the end of the month, I had a midterm test in quantum mechanics, and I felt quite good about it, but the specific results will have to wait for next month's report. I barely touched engineering graphics, but there are many deadlines in April, so I have to start studying it. Also, I have to complain about the courses on basic materials science, crystallography, and solid-state physics. The content of these three courses is almost identical, with repeated discussions on crystal cells, lattices, and Bravais lattice. The teacher for physical chemistry, Li Yuan (not Tang Gaozu), left a deep impression on me. He is one of the few teachers in university who speaks candidly with undergraduate students, so I have made a note of him.
In conclusion, March was relatively uneventful (but could there be hidden whirlpools beneath the calm surface?), and April will bring exams and deadlines one after another. I feel like this semester is passing by quickly, whether it's because the semester is naturally short or because as I get older, time seems to pass faster. owo