Lichun is the 1st of the 24 solar terms. The 24 solar terms originated in the Yellow River Valley. As far back as the Spring and Autumn Period, the four solar terms of mid-spring, mid-summer, mid-autumn and mid-winter were set. Later on, it was continuously improved and perfected, and by the Qin and Han Dynasties, the 24 solar terms had been fully established. In 104 B.C.E., Deng Ping and others formulated the "Tai Chu Calendar", which formally set the 24 solar terms on the calendar and clarified the astronomical positions of the 24 solar terms.

Lichun, the first of the twenty-four solar terms, was categorized as the first month's solar term in the official calendars of the Ming and Qing dynasties; it arrives at the point in time when the sun reaches 315° of yellow longitude on the Gregorian calendar on February 3-5 (around the first day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar) each year. Lichun is one of the important traditional festivals of Han Chinese folklore.