Heaven's Gift Festival was a grand celebration in Huai'an. It was said that after Tang Monk returned from obtaining the scriptures, the turtle that had carried his master and disciples across the sea went back on its word while crossing a river. The scriptures fell into the water and were soaked through, so this day also became Scripture-Drying Day. This plot appeared only in Journey to the West. Although the custom of airing books on Heaven's Gift Festival was said to date back to the Tang dynasty, people also "aired red and green" on this day—that was, every household took out its clothes to dry. This custom was said to be connected to Qianlong. While touring Yangzhou, he was caught in heavy rain and soaked his outer garments. Unable to borrow clothes from the common people, he could only wait for the rain to stop, dry his clothes, and put them back on.
There were also customs such as women returning to their parental homes, bathing people and livestock, and paper-cutters hanging humanoid figures called Sunshine Girls. June and July were Jiangnan's plum rain season, when rainy days were frequent. Sunshine Girls could drive away dark clouds. The paper figures wore red tops and green trousers.
Changgan Ward was an ancient place name in Nanjing. Li Bai's A Song of Changgan told the love story of an ordinary merchant couple living in the city. "Bamboo horse" referred to a boy, while "green plum" referred to a girl. Green plums had been made into wine for a very long time, but "boiling green plums over wine" had nothing to do with love. It referred to the wine heated while discussing All Under Heaven in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The green plums picked only at the start of June were still