The Qixi Festival, one of China's oldest traditional festivals, falls on the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar. It falls on August 25 this year.

The festival is regarded as China's Valentine's Day. It was added to China‘s National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2006, and goes back over 2,000 years.

Also known as the Qiqiao Festival, it celebrates the love between a mythological cowherd and weaver girl, who are separated by the heavenly river and can only reunite on this one day a year. The eternal love between the two has touched many people. Now, the festival is celebrated to commemorate them and to express people's quest for pure love.

(Compiled by Cheng Weidan)