No sooner had spring passed than the month of May arrived. The sun began to beam with greater and greater force and brilliance. All plant life is thriving vigorously and lushly, with a tendency towards ever-increasing luxuriance. In May there is the day called the Beginning of Summer, which falls on the 5th or 6th day of the month and is one of the twenty-four seasonal division points by which the solar year is divided under the traditional calendar according to the Sun"s apparent movement along the ecliptic. It is also the first seasonal division point in summer. The weather during this period is characterized by coexistence of extreme hotness and excessive humidity. It is sometimes capricious and fickle, if we may compare weather to a person"s temperament.
After the Beginning of Summer,the change in Nature is marked by the solar power being on the increase and the lunar power decreasing in comparison (symbolic of the change in the power of growth and the tendency to decline respectively in ancient Chinese philosophy). In relation to a person"s internal organs, it may be said that the vitality of the liver is becoming weaker while that of the heart is becoming stronger. In the view of traditional Chinese medicine, "the vitality of summer is linked to the vitality of the heart", and for this reason during the period around the Beginning of Summer "attention must be paid to the need of going to bed early and getting up also early and emphasis must be laid on coupling health preservation with freedom from care". Heavy sweating as a result of physical exercises should be avoided, because profuse sweating is considered to be injurious to one"s positive state of health. After the Beginning of Summer, people are prone to feel irritable and restless. Therefore, for health preservation at the Beginning of summer, one must refrain from "anger and impatience", guard against plunging into a transport of delight or wrath, and strive to be peaceful in mind, light-hearted and contented.
In regard to health preservation by dietary means, the foods and drinks at this time need to be simple and light---chiefly low in fat, easy to digest, and rich in the content of fibers (cellulose). More of vegetables and fruits should be eaten. Coarse food grain (e.g. maize, sorghum and millet) is to be preferred on as many occasions as possible. The daily budget for food should cover a lot of fish and chicken with a very low outlay for fat meat and excessively salty items.
When May has passed, there will be an increasing variety of fruits on the market. As fruits are palatable and nutritious, it may be taken for granted that everybody who looks at some fruits will have a relish for them. Yet the skill and ingenuity required for the proper selection of fruits must not be underestimated. For, just as there are people who are rash by nature and do everything in a hurry and, in contrast, people who are cautious by nature and do things slowly and deliberately, so fruits also fall into distinctive categories if we group them by their characteristics. There are fruits which are cold or cool by nature, fruits which are tepid, or lukewarm, by nature and fruits which are level, flat, or moderate by nature. To decide which fruits are to be preferred in a given season requires some sophisticated know-how. The person has to make the choice as if he/she were looking for the unique seat in which he/she could sit---a seat that tallies with his/her ticket in serial number. In like manner, only a fruit so "located" can accord with the person"s constitution and exert a "wonderful effect" on his/her health.
Now, let"s categorize the fruits. From the point of view of traditional Chinese medicine, fruits divide into three categories on the basis of their intrinsic characteristics and qualities.

They are as follows:
The cold or cool category: ---Fruits of this category include, as their common representatives, mandarin orange, any orange, water caltrop, banana, persimmon, watermelon, etc. (Those people need to eat fruits of the cold or cool category: whose internal fire easily flare up in tangible forms such as dry stool and concealed skin ulcers which the afflicted person is generally ashamed to mention or who suffer from loss of some body liquid and have such symptoms as toothache, tinnitus and unproductive cough)
The tepid category: ---Fruits of this category include, as their common representatives, tangerine, jujube, chestnut, peach, apricot, litchi (a single seed surrounded by a sweet, edible, raisinlike pulp, enclosed in a rough brown, papery shell), longan (a fruit resembling litchi), grape, cherry, pomegranate, pineapple, etc. (Those people who show symptoms of feebleness such as loose bowels and slow pulse, all caused by cold factors, would do well to eat tepid fruits. If they suffer from insomnia, they need to eat more longan, litchi, walnuts, jujubes, etc. and refrain from eating fruits which are of the cold or cool category. )
The sweet and level category: --- Fruits such as Plum, coconut, loquat, hawthorn, and apple are of this category. They are suitable for people of all constitution types. (Those people who suffer from indigestion or high blood pressure should eat more often such fruits as hawthorn, peach and orange.) Generally speaking, winter is the season in which it is appropriate to eat fruits of the tepid category, summer is the season in which fruits of the cold or cool category are suitable, and as for fruits of the sweet and level category they are appropriate during all four seasons of the year.
Coconuts are suitable for sportsmen because they can diminish inflammation and reduce swellings, promote blood circulation, and facilitate the cure of myotenositis and the recuperation from injuries and trauma.
Mangoes are suitable for white-collar females because they contain an abundant supply of carotene and a unique enzyme which can make the skin rich in elasticity and delay the appearance of wrinkles. Thus mangoes come pat to the need of young females who treasure beauty.
The kiwi fruit fits the requirements of old people and children, because its content of vitamins is double that of the orange. If old people and children eat this fruit very often they will have their immunity raised and infection of them with disease will become highly improbable.
Pears: They augur well --- Pears can produce saliva, slake thirst, resolve sputum and dispel internal fire; they can moisten the lungs to alleviate the internal feeling of hotness and lack of humidity. They augur well for those people who cough because of pulmonary heat, who have dry pharynx and sore throat, whose stool is dry, or who suffers from hypertension, hepatitis or even cirrhosis of the liver.
What is taboo--- Owing to their cold nature, pears are unsuitable for consumption by those people who have dyspepsia and by women who are deficient in blood following childbirth.
Watermelons: They augur well --- Watermelons are universally praised as superb for driving away summer heat. They are cool, sweet and tasteful. Besides quieting a person by relieving him or her of thirst and heat, the watermelon can eliminate the swelling or pain of the chest, making it easier for the person to breathe. It can also cure pharyngitis, function as a help for diuresis, work as a cure for hematodiarrhoea, and neutralize the effect of alcoholism.
What is taboo--- Ingestion of too large a quantity of melon pulp at one time, because this may lead to indigestion or diarrhoea.