Qixi, the Chinese Valentine's Day, falls on August 4 this year. It takes place on the 7th day of the seventh month of lunar Chinese calendar, which is why we call it “Double Seventh”.

The traditional festival which was added to China’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2006, has a lineage of over 2,000 years.

It was initially to highlight people’s worship of nature and women’s domestic skills. Only later did it become associated with romance thanks to a popular folktale of an ill-fated love between a cowherd and a weaving maid.

Chinese people, nowadays, still prepare offerings and enjoy the traditional fruit biscuits on this special day, not only just to celebrate love but to show their awe for the beauty of nature and to ask for wisdom and fortune.

We wish you happy the Qixi Festival!

(By Liuqin/Fanying)