a cultural and tourism festival kicked off on saturday night in chongqing's rongchang district to celebrate the qixi festival — also known as chinese valentine's day — which falls on tuesday.
the four-day event is being held in wanling ancient town in rongchang. sixteen activities, including a fireworks show, an ancient wedding performance, a lovebirds' dinner and an intangible cultural heritage exhibition will be included.
in chinese mythology, qixi festival — the seventh day of the seventh lunar month — celebrates the annual meeting of niulang, a cowherd, and zhinu, a weaver girl. in the legend, the two lovers travel across the milky way and walk down a bridge formed by magpies to reunite with each other.
the traditional festival to celebrate love falls on aug 22 this year.
on that day, a "love museum" in the ancient town will be open to public. the museum collects tokens of love from the public, such as love letters and marriage certificates.
