Traditional festival vies for recognition
By Lin Qi (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-10 05:44

In other regions, seven close friends would gather to make dumplings. They put into three separate dumplings a needle, a copper coin and a red date, which represented perfect needlework skills, good fortune and an early marriage.

Girls also held weaving and needlework competitions to see who had the best hands and the brightest mind, both prerequisites for making a good wife and mother in ancient China.

Young women in southern China used to weave small handicrafts with coloured paper, grass and thread.

Afterwards, they competed to pass a thread through the eyes of seven needles in a single breath.

Tradition transformed

The love story of Niulang and Zhinu, and the Qixi Festival have been handed down for generations. Yet these ancient traditions and customs are slowly dying out.

Many modern Chinese, particularly youngsters, seem to know more about St Valentine's Day on February 14, characterized by bouquets of roses, chocolates and romantic candlelight dinners, than they do about their home-grown day for lovers.

Even Qixi is nowadays referred to as the "Chinese Valentine's Day."

Fewer people than ever will gaze at the heavens on Thursday to pick out the two stars shining bright on either side of the Milky Way, that is, if people even know on which day Qixi falls.

There are ready reminders dotted about, in the form of big ads saying "Sales on Chinese Valentine's Day!" in shops, hotels and restaurants.

But few young women will mark the festival with their boyfriends, or take part in traditional activities to pray for cleverness.

"I really have no idea about the 'Begging for Skills Festival.' I thought Qixi was only connected to the fairytale," said Wang Yilin, 24, a young woman working for a website in Beijing.

Wang's lack of awareness about Qixi's cultural implications is common among young Chinese women.

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