A metaphor for the swift passage of time; a brief period that seems to fly by surprisingly quickly, often referring to how quickly a short duration of time passes.
Era:
Ancient
Frequency:
Story:
During the Tang Dynasty, many nomadic tribes of the Tiele people resided in the northern regions. One such tribe was the Guligan, situated north of the Hanhai (a vast desert). This area was abundant in lily grass and famed for its excellent horses, capable of traveling a thousand li in a single day.
The Guligan territory bordered the sea to its north and was exceedingly distant from Chang'an, the Tang capital.
In this northern land, the days were remarkably long and the nights remarkably short. It was said that if one began cooking a lamb shoulder in the evening, by the time the meat was thoroughly cooked, dawn would already be breaking in the east.