Happy Qi Xi! The Night of Sevens, or China’s Valentine’s Day, is Today, August 26, 2009

The traditional Western Valentine’s Day doesn’t own the patent on romance. The Chinese have been celebrating for hundreds of years the tragic, but romantic, tale of two lovers separated forever by the Milky Way who can only come together on one night out of the year – Qixi, the seventh day of the seventh month (lunar calendar).

While the holiday doesn’t have the same chocolate-covered trappings as the Western Valentine’s Day, Chinese people still take the opportunity to show a little romance. Take this gorgeous couple, for example. Mr. Han Rongxing gave his 99-year-old wife some roses to celebrate Qixi.

Read more:

• Qixi Festival
• Legend of Qixi

Photo courtesy of the Shanghai Daily, August 26, 2009.