China's Valentine's Day Rooted in Legend and Skill

Chinese Valentine's Day or Qixi, is more than romance it's an ancient tradition rooted in legend prayer and craft skills that still draws crowds across Asia today.

Celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month Qixi fell on August 19 this year with observances also held in Singapore, Vietnam and other Asian countries. In Beijing Folk Custom Museum hosted "Asking for Skills" activities honouring the tradition of women praying for skillfulness and showcasing crafts. The museum housed in the city's Dongyue Taoist Temple has run Qixi events for 14 years with drawing roughly 500 visitors each time.

This year's program featured classical music, nail-dyeing with garden balsam, and Song brocade bead painting crafts tied to "qiqiao" the pursuit of skill and dexterity. Museum educator Jia Juan said the tradition dates back to the Tang and Song dynasties also rooted in ancient star worship.

Qixi's romantic legend tells of weaver girl Zhinü and cowherd Niulang separated by the Milky Way and allowed to reunite once a year on a bridge of magpies. Records of the tale trace to before 221 B.C. with related customs developing during the Han Dynasty.

In Singapore the researcher Lynn Wong is reviving the festival through "Qixi Fest" launched in 2023 to reconnect younger generations with ancestral stories after decades of fading tradition. Meanwhile, Hor Xin Hao of Cantonese descent, still holds late-night prayers to the Seven Maidens with offering incense and cosmetics believed to bring beauty and blessings rejecting the narrower "Valentine's Day" label in favour of Qixi's deeper cultural meaning.