The weather is getting cooler, the leaves are changing colors, and the kids are all back to school. That can mean just one thing – fall (秋天 – qiū tiān)
is here. You may be bummed that summer is over, but there’s lots to love about autumn as well. In China, fall means two very important holidays – Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节 – zhōng qiū jié) and National Day (国庆节 – guó qìng jié). Learn some vocabulary, get the scoop on these holidays, and watch some fall-themed videos in this post. Let’s get you talking about fall in Chinese!

Fall colors in Beijing.

Chinese Fall Vocabulary

To get started, here’s a vocabulary list with 25 Chinese words about fall. Feel free to copy this list and use it to build up your Chinese fall vocabulary.

Image by meongan278 from Pixabay

Here are a few sentences that show some of these vocabulary words in action:

秋天是从九月到十二月
qiū tiān shì cóng jiǔ yuè dào shí’èr yuè
Fall is from September to December.

秋天有很多重要的假期，例如国庆节
qiū tiān yǒu hěn duō chóng yào de jià qī, lì rú guó qìng jié
There are many important holidays in the fall, such as National Day.

月饼是中秋节的传统食品
yuè bǐng shì zhōng qiū jié de chuán tǒng shí pǐn
Mooncakes are a traditional food for Mid-Autumn Festival.

天气越来越凉快，叶子变色了
tiān qì yuè lái yuè liáng kuài, yè zi biàn sè le
The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are changing colors.

感恩节的时候，美国人吃火鸡，看美式橄榄球
gǎn’ēn jié de shí hòu, měi guó rén chī huǒ jī, kàn měi shì gǎn lǎn qiú
On Thanksgiving, Americans eat turkey and watch American football.

Tiananmen Square is the place to be on National Day.

Fall Holidays

As mentioned above, both Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day take place in the fall months in China. If you’re interested in learning more about these Chinese holidays, check out a few of our past posts:

• Mid-Autumn Festival: Get the scoop on this traditional holiday in this post.
• Moon Cakes: Learn all about the lunar treats that come along with Mid-Autumn Fest.
• National Day: Get the history of China’s most patriotic holiday here.
• National Day Golden Week: Tons of Chinese people travel over the long holiday, but that has posed some problems. Learn more in this post.

In addition to these traditional festivals, more and more people in China are celebrating Western holidays. Halloween parties are common in big cities, and many restaurants offer full Thanksgiving dinners. Talk about these holidays in Chinese by studying these posts:

• Halloween Vocabulary: Ghosts, witches, zombies and more!
• Thanksgiving Vocabulary: Learn the vocab and do a short reading practice here.

Fall Videos

See what happens when a zombie apocalypse takes over the streets of Beijing.

A Plants vs. Zombies themed game took over downtown Kunming on Halloween weekend.

A great place to take in the beautiful fall colors is the Red Snail Temple outside of Beijing.

The most popular spot in the capital during the fall is definitely the Fragrant Hills.

National Day celebrations in Beijing from way back in 2010 – one of my first videos for the page!

Take in the fall scenery!

Practice Questions

你喜欢秋天吗？ 为什么？
nǐ xǐ huān qiū tiān ma? wèi shén me?
Do you like fall? Why?

秋天的时候你喜欢干什么
qiū tiān de shí hòu nǐ xǐ huān gàn shén me
What do you like to do in the fall?

秋天的时候，你庆祝什么假期？
qiū tiān de shí hòu, nǐ qìng zhù shén me jià qī
What holidays do you celebrate in the fall?

你怎么庆祝？
nǐ zěn me qìng zhù
How do you celebrate?