Chinese Valentines’ Day

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:53:20 +0000

Chinese Valentines’ Day, also known as Double Sevens Festival or Qixi Festival， falls on the seventh day of the seven lunar month. Qixi – literally the “night of sevens” – is the nearest Chinese equivalent to the Western St Valentine’s Day tradition. This year the festival takes place on August 26th and already bookings for romantic getaways are going off the scale.
The origin of Qixi Festival is about a story.
In late summer, the stars Altair and Vega are high in the night sky, and the Chinese tell the following love story, of which there are many variations:

A young cowherd named Niulang, came across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. Encouraged by his mischievous companion the ox, he steals their clothes and waits to see what will happen. The fairy sisters elect the youngest and most beautiful sister Zhinü, who represents the star Vega to retrieve their clothing. She agrees to do so, but since Niulang has seen her naked, she must agree to his request for marriage. She proves to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang to be a good husband. They lived happily and had two children. But the Goddess of Heaven finds out that Zhinü, a fairy girl, has married a mere mortal human. She is furious and orders her to return to Heaven. (In another version, the Goddess forced the weaver fairy back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds in the sky because she could not do her job while married to Niulang, a mortal.) Down on Earth, Niulang is very upset that his wife is gone. Suddenly, his cow begins to talk, telling him that if he kills him and puts on his hide, he will be able to go up to Heaven to find his wife. Crying bitterly, he killed the cow, put on the skin. Carrying his two children with him, he went off to Heaven to find Zhinü. The Goddess found out that he had come and was very angry. Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratched a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever (thus forming the Milky Way, which separates Altair and Vega).
Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar and takes care of their two children.
But once a year all the magpies in the world would take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, which is the seventh night of the seventh moon.
There are two Chinese classic stories telling about star-crossed lovers.
the Both stories tell of star-crossed lovers. In “The White Serpent”, a young man falls in love with a beautiful girl and marries her but, unbeknown to him, she hides a dark secret – she is actually a huge white serpent disguised by a magic spell. The two lovers are then split asunder when a local monk betrays her secret.
“The Butterfly Lovers” has often been compared to the tale of Romeo and Juliet, except with a considerably greater degree of cross-dressing. Here a young woman disguises herself as a boy in order to secure an education. She spends three years sharing a room with a male classmate who never guesses her secret. She, however, falls in love with him.

When the truth is finally out, the two decide to marry, but their happiness is short-lived. The girl’s father insists she marry another and the young man dies of a broken heart. The two are ultimately united when the girl visits her dead lover’s tomb on her wedding day and the couple are transformed into a pair of butterflies.
• From the point view of modern people, these stories seem so unreal but What sad and beautiful stories! These reflect Chinese culture.
• In China, there are a lot of top attractions reflect Chinese sad but beautiful cultures, such as China Hangzhou west lake.

chinese classical love stories–star-crossed lovers

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:51:40 +0000

There are two Chinese classic stories telling about star-crossed lovers.

The Both stories tell of star-crossed lovers. In “The White Serpent”, a young man falls in love with a beautiful girl and marries her but, unbeknown to him, she hides a dark secret – she is actually a huge white serpent disguised by a magic spell. The two lovers are then split asunder when a local monk betrays her secret.

“The Butterfly Lovers” has often been compared to the tale of Romeo and Juliet, except with a considerably greater degree of cross-dressing. Here a young woman disguises herself as a boy in order to secure an education. She spends three years sharing a room with a male classmate who never guesses her secret. She, however, falls in love with him.

From the point view of modern people, these stories seem so unreal but What sad and beautiful stories! These reflect Chinese culture.
In China, there are a lot of top attractions reflect Chinese sad but beautiful cultures. I list one attraction for reference.

Hangzhou west lake
West Lake, the most noted symbol of historic Hangzhou, is surrounded by mountains in three directions and houses many places of interest in and around the lake area. Not only renowned for its picturesque landscape, it also embraces many stories, poetical praise and cherished Chinese traditional treasures including architecture, stone carvings and engraved tablets.

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Chinese Valentines’ Day

chinese classical love stories–star-crossed lovers