The Chinese Lunar Calendar

I know very little about the Chinese Lunar Calendar - and will claim absolutely no expertise in this forum. Suffice it to say that I knew it described holidays and had something to do with the phases of the moon.

Last year, June brought in a crashing wave of rain. I believe it rained from one of the first days of the month until one of the last days of the month, nearly every day. It would rain at least once a day, and it may well rain all day. Then July came, blowing the rain clouds away and bringing on heavy heat and high humidity through to mid-September.

I prepared myself for this onslaught of weather as I faced the summer in Shanghai. Many expats leave for the summer, especially those whose children are in school. Most of L--'s classmates... I'm sorry, ALL of L--'s classmates left Shanghai within 2 weeks of the end of school. They will return within 2 weeks of the beginning of school. We faced a yawning chasm of summertime with no friends, and the impending torrential fall of rain.

We waited for the rain with fear. Would we be sitting indoors for a month, scratching each other's eyes out with loneliness and boredom?

June rarely saw a drop of rain, and the temperature did not climb too high. It was pleasant to be outdoors, and we saw off our old friends while finding time to make new ones at the playground.

As July began, the temperature began to rise... and the rains set in. Not as bad as last year - thank goodness! Still, the season of pervading damp had clearly set upon us.

Apparently - and I can not find documentation to support or negate this on the web, but I believe my source - the Chinese lunar calendar has two Mays this year.

So our lovely June came after a lovely May - this fits entirely.

And our wet and steamy July was essentially a wet and steamy June, come 1 month late.

The question this raises is whether the heat will last until mid-October!