While rains unleashed by typhoon Sepat pounded southeast China
on Sunday, old Chinese people would rather believe that water
falling from the heaven is the tears of a pair of ill-fated
lovers.
Single Chinese men and
women take part in a mass matchmaking event in a stadium in
Wuhan,?Hubei Province, August 19. A variety of
activities were organized to celebrate Chinese Valentine's Day,
which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month on the lunar
calendar.
China's Qixi Festival, on the seventh day of the
seventh month according to the lunar calendar, is based on a love
story of a cowherd and a fairy seamstress.
Niulang, the cowherd, fell in love with a beautiful fairy Zhinu
when grazing his cow. But their love was interfered by Wangmu, wife
of the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Deity in Taoism. She separated the
couple by drawing a river, the Milky Way, with her hairpin between
them.
Touched by their love, pied magpies come in flocks every Qixi to
form a bridge spanning the galaxy with their bodies so that the
couple could meet.
To many Chinese people, Qixi was celebrated as the "lovers'
day".
Shanghai saw a hike of rose prices on the day.
"Normally a blossom of red rose is sold at four yuan (US$0.53),"
said Mr. Yang working in the Yangyu floral shop, "but now it's
priced more than ten yuan (US$1.32). We have hired several people
to help deliver the flowers."
In Zhengzhou, capital of China's most populous province Henan, shopkeeper Chen Xiao is busy wrapping
up flowers. Pointing at a dozen of notes pasted on the glass behind
her, Chen beamed and said, "Flowers of tomorrow have all been
ordered."
Li Shaoguang queued for a marriage certificate with his
girlfriend. "Today is special to me," he said. "I value the loyalty
in traditional love, and I believe the Qixi Festival is our own
Valentine's Day."
Qixi doesn't belong to the Han people only. In northwest China's
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Alaji bought
a ring worth 390 yuan for his girlfriend.
"Today is the anniversary of our encounter," he said.
"Coincidentally today is also the Qixi Festival in this year."
In the Shuimogou Park of Urumqi, young people from ethnic
minorities like Uygur, Hui, Man and Dong took part in a
match-making party.
"Although the story of Qixi sounds far from us, the honest and
responsible love is cherished by every ethnic group," said Han
Juan, a girl with the Hui ethnic minority.
Some young people chose to celebrate the Qixi Festival in their
own way.
In southwest China's Sichuan Province, Ren Yun collected all the
affectionate messages sent with her boyfriend in a delicate
notebook and decorated it with pink ribbon.
"I would choose material romance like candle light dinner on
February 14," said the white collar with a computer company. "But
in the Chinese lovers' day, I prefer a more implicit way."
Ren's opinion was shared by Liu Yong, a postgraduate with the
department of Chinese Language and Literature of the Fudan
University.
"The Qixi Festival is crystallization of the romantic and poetic
imagination of Chinese people," Liu said. "If we copy the western
Valentine's Day with roses and chocolate, it would be reduced to a
commercial tool for businessmen."
The Qixi Festival, listed as an intangible cultural heritage,
could be dated back to the middle of Han Dynasty (202 BC to 220
AD).
Scholars and business people at a conference held by the Chinese
Folk Literature and Art Society in Beijing has earlier proposed the
Qixi Festival be celebrated as "Chinese Valentine's Day" to promote
awareness of traditional culture.
However, some other experts saw deeper meaning of Qixi.
"Traditional festivals should not be parody of the western,"
said Zhao Shu, member of the working committee for the protection
of national intangible cultural heritage. "Qixi doesn't only mean
lovers' affection, but also stable family and deftness of
girls."
"Qixi should play a more important role in maintaining harmony
in families and the whole society at large," said Xiong Tieji, a
historian with the Huazhong Normal University.
In some regions of China, the festival is still celebrated in
traditional ways.
In the typhoon-battered southeast China's Fujian Province, people cooked horsebeans and
shared with their neighbors.
"Qixi has been celebrated as a holiday of friendship for nearly
a thousand years," said Fang Binggui, an expert in folk custom
studies in Fujian.
Local girls prepared fruit and incense as offerings to Zhinu on
Qixi, praying to acquire skill in needlecraft.
In south China's Guangdong Province, girls will prepare
handicrafts and cultivate mung beans in small boxes before the
festival and pray seven times on the festival night to welcome the
fairy.
Newlyweds plant trees in a
desert during a mass wedding ceremony in Yinchuan, northwest
China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, August 19,
2007. Across the country, many activities were organized to
celebrate Chinese Valentine's Day, which falls on the seventh day
of the seventh month on the lunar calendar.
Eighty-year-old Li Wanhe
puts a ring on his wife Chen Linfeng's finger during a ceremony to
celebrate Chinese Valentine's Day in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, August 19,
2007.
Newlyweds in traditional
costumes attend a mass wedding ceremony in Heshun, north China's Shanxi Province, August 19, 2007. A variety of
activities were organized to celebrate Chinese Valentine's Day,
which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar
month.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, August 20, 2007)
