Wang Shuo (1958-), a famous Chinese writer, director, and actor known for his influential novels and screenplays in the late 1980s and 1990s

(idiom) describing a situation that is complex and difficult to understand or unravel; originally used in the poem [[木兰诗|木蘭詩|mu4 lan2 shi1]] to describe how male and female rabbits are hard to tell apart when running.

Yangshuo County, a world-famous scenic area in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Shuozhou, a prefecture-level city in Shanxi Province [[山西省|山西省|shan1 xi1 sheng3]]

(literary) the north; the northern region

Shuozhou, a prefecture-level city in Shanxi province [[山西省|山西省|shan1 xi1 sheng3]]

(literary) a cold wind blowing from the north

The first day of the first lunar month

The new moon and full moon; the first and the fifteenth days of each lunar month.

The first day of the lunar month.

Yangshuo County, located in [[桂林市|桂林市|gui4 lin2 shi4]], Guangxi

The time between two consecutive new moons or full moons, averaging about 29.5 days; the basis for months in the lunar calendar

The first new moon of the lunar year, meaning the first day of the first lunar month.

Shuocheng district of Shuozhou city, Shanxi province

The north wind is piercingly cold; used to describe extreme winter cold. winter weather.

The first phase of the moon when it is between the earth and the sun; the first day of the lunar month.

(literary) the cold air or frigid wind of the north

Originally referring to the difficulty of distinguishing a rabbit's sex while it is running; now used to describe a situation that is complex, confusing, and difficult to understand or see clearly; same as [[扑朔迷离|撲朔迷離|pu1 shuo4 mi2 li2]]

Han Dynasty scholar, official, and court jester known for his wit, humor, and speed in composing literary works

(historical) an ancient ritual in which the Zhou king distributed the calendar for the coming year to feudal lords, who then performed a monthly sacrificial ritual (often involving a sheep) at their ancestral temple on the first day of each month before attending to state affairs

to do something perfunctorily as a mere formality; preserving a ritual in form only while the spirit is lost

To keep up appearances or go through the motions without the original substance; refers to preserving an outward form even when its purpose is lost.

(bound form) confusing or impossible to unravel; typically used in the four-character expression [[扑朔迷离|撲朔迷離|pu1 shuo4 mi2 li2]] to describe something complicated.

(literary) a period of ten days or a month; a short amount of time

(literary) The last day and first day of the lunar month

the first day of each month in the lunar calendar

Shuocheng district of Shuozhou city [[朔州市|朔州市|shuo4 zhou1 shi4]] in Shanxi Province

The largest tide occurring during a new moon or a full moon

(literary) Northern desert regions

heavy snow in the north or northern regions

(literary) the northern bank of the Yellow River; more generally, the region north of the Yellow River

Kushanese Buddhist monk and translator who collaborated with Lokaksema during the Han dynasty

to perform a task in a perfunctory manner; to carry out an ritual or duty merely for form's sake