Handmade sauces.[Photo provided to China Daily]

But is it possible to come up with Western dishes that abide by China's 24 solar terms?

On the day of guyu (grain rain), the sixth solar term as well as the last term in spring, which fell on April 20, we got to experience a mind-blowing five-course "guyu menu", put on by Claret, a new Western restaurant in Beijing whose hallmark is its experimentation with special menus in accordance with China's solar terms.

The ancient Chinese divided the circle of the sun's annual motion into 24 equal segments, each given a specific solar term called jieqi.