It’s that time of year again – to dream of love, the moon and the Milky Way. The festival often known as Qixi, or Double Seventh, is a tradition that speaks to our deepest romantic yearnings.
The Qixi Festival – sometimes referred to as the Chinese Valentine’s Day – takes place on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, which fell on Tuesday, August 22 in 2023.
Legend has it that the youngest daughter of the Jade Emperor (the ruler of the world as per the legend), the Weaver Girl, became tired of the boring immortal life and decided to descend to the mortal world. She met and fell in love with a cowherd, a union strongly objected by the Jade Emperor who in turn forcibly separated them by the Milky Way, leaving them torn apart by the galaxy and only allowing them to meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.
Touched by the love between Zhinu and Niulang, the magpies on land flew up to heaven and helped the couple by forming a bridge across the river, allowing the two to reunite.
As a testament to their devotion, the Qixi Festival was born, a celebration that encapsulates the eternal bond between lovers and the eternal hope that love will always find a way, even against the odds set by the heavens themselves.
Many customs and practices are associated with the Qixi Festival. Traditionally, it is a day when women dress up in Hanfu – traditional Chinese-clothing that has a long flowing robe with loose sleeves and a belt at the waist – and spend the day preparing offerings of tea, wine, flowers, and various fruits to pray to Zhinu for wisdom and to grant their wishes. Later in the night, the women will gather around and compete with each other on threading a needle.
While there are several food customs prepared during Qixi, which vary regionally, a popular dish made and eaten during the festival is Qiaoguo, a thin piece of fried pastry made with oil, flour, sugar, and honey. People believe that by eating Qiaoguo, it will help reunite the couple on the Magpie Bridge – plus, these morsels are delicious to eat anyways.
Couples splurge on Chinese Valentine’s Day
Similar to Valentine's Day in Western culture, it has become a commercialized occasion with the exchange of gifts, flowers, chocolates, and romantic gestures. Many young couples take the opportunity to spend quality time together and enjoy each other's company.
For example, couples are marking the annual occasion of Qixi Festival by planning rural getaways. Bookings for rural accommodation for the day surged by more than four times on Trip.Com from a year ago. Reservations for high-end homestay inns that are priced over 1,000 yuan per night increased by 60 percent. Farm resorts more than doubled their corresponding numbers.
And of course, spendings related to food, drink, flowers, and gifts spiked during this year's Qixi Festival.
Qixi-themed set meals saw a 118 percent surge in the week to Tuesday from the prior seven days, while reservations on the day soared 185 percent from a year ago, data from Chinese on-demand services provider Meituan showed.
Orders of flowers, a must for Valentine's Day, jumped nearly 30 percent as of midday Tuesday from a year earlier, according to data from flash sale retail services platform Meituan Shangou. Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai were the top cities for flower consumption. Online grocery platform Dingdong Maicai offered 10 types of Qixi-themed bouquets, selling over 10,000 units, with many sold out during a pre-sale period. Searches for flowers and chocolates on JD's online platform jumped thirtyfold in August.
Alibaba Group Holding's courier unit Cainiao Network Technology offered just-in-time delivery for many cosmetics brands on Tuesday, while the firm's takeout platform Ele.me. had over 500,000 participants in its Write a Love Letter to Him/Her event.
Specifically, luxury gift items are flying off the shelves of online retailers as cosmetics, jewelry, and watches were popular gifts. Data from online retailer Vipshop shows that sales of luxury watches grew 23 percent between Aug 14 and 20, compared with the same period in July. Purchases of jewelry, sunglasses and high-end sports goods jumped 48 percent, 78 percent and 231 percent, respectively, during the same period.
Creative ways to celebrate with a touch of “guochao”
Compared with the other romance-fueled shopping festivals like February’s Valentine’s Day or May’s 520 Day, Qixi has deep roots in traditional Chinese mythology, offering an opportunity for the traditional festival to build cultural connections that align with young consumers’ sense of “guochao”, or China chic.
An increasing number of young people are participating in activities featuring the traditional essence. In Beijing, a group of 100 young people registered to participate in a special event: the Qixi limited "script kill" games. The activity will only be available for young single people to meet their potential loved ones, and has been again fully booked even five days before its launch.
Going to exhibitions, listening to concerts, visiting creative markets, stargazing, visiting parks wearing traditional Chinese attire and riding around the city have become popular activities for young people during this year's Qixi Festival. By Aug 18, the hashtag #Qixi had been used 66.19 billion times on short video-sharing platform Douyin.
The former residence of Chinese painter, calligrapher and poet of the Ming dynasty Tang Yin located in Suzhou, Jiangsu province is hosting a Qixi-inspired party during the week.
Theme parks including Beijing Happy Valley are joining the carnival. Online searches for the amusement park soared 300 percent as it puts out a Qixi-limited version in the evening, where tourists can experience traditional folk customs such as ancient blue dyeing and tie-dyeing.
Several museums across the country, like the Qiqiao Culture Museum in Guangzhou, have also launched crossover products. In the Qiqiao museum's case, it has joined with a mobile gaming company to create a game that allows players to experience the Qixi festival in virtual reality. Players can explore different kinds of activities such as threading needles on their mobile phones.
In China's capital city, more than 30 Qixi activities are held by local parks and museums to welcome the traditional festival, according to media reports.
On Sunday afternoon, a Qixi event took place at Yuanmingyuan Park, or the Old Summer Palace. Various lively activities such as classics recitals, ancient music performances, cultural lectures, painting on fans and embroidered sachets were held at the park with the aim of showcasing the cultural essence of the traditional Qixi Festival.
The Capital Museum prepared a special event inviting couples to take part in a distinctive museum date, delving into the stories behind the cultural relics and engaging in hands-on interactive experiences.
Instead of endless advertisements from merchants targeting young couples, the celebration of Qixi Festival in recent years is gradually returning to the pursuit of the essence of it: learning Qixi traditions and most importantly, enjoying and cherishing love and family. And the creative choices young people make to celebrate Qixi are a reconstruction of the Chinese cultural history intrinsic to the festival.
“迢迢牵牛星，皎皎河汉女。”
8月22日，是农历七月初七，中国传统七夕节。“七”在中国古代具有特殊寓意，古人常将“七”视为阴阳循环的一个周期，于是农历七月初七这一天被称作七夕节，也称乞巧节、女儿节、七娘会。
七夕节起源于汉代，东汉时代的作品《古诗十九首》中有这样的诗：迢迢牵牛星，皎皎河汉女。纤纤擢素手，札札弄机杼。终日不成章，泣涕零如雨。河汉清且浅，相去复几许？盈盈一水间，脉脉不得语。
传说，牛郎和织女是天上的两个神仙，因为织女违了天规，被罚下凡间。在偶然的情况下，织女与牛郎相遇并相爱，二人靠着牛郎的神牛和织女的织机，在银河上相会。为牛郎和织女的爱情所感动，天上的喜鹊会在每年的七月七日，让银河上形成一条桥，让牛郎和织女相会一次。
始于牛郎织女的爱情故事，绵延两千多年的七夕佳节，逐渐演变成了最具浪漫色彩的中国传统节日，也被视为中式情人节。
七夕节除了讲述着牛郎织女的传说，还延伸出一系列纪念活动。由于织女的名称，使人联想到女工，进而乞巧。唐代诗人林杰在脍炙人口的《乞巧》一诗中，写出了民间妇女过七夕最重要的活动——“穿针乞巧”：“七夕今朝看碧霄，牵牛织女渡河桥。家家乞巧望秋月，穿尽红丝几万条。”
古时候，每逢七月初七夜晚，家家户户的妇女结彩缕， 穿七孔针。有的人用金、银、黄铜做成针，把瓜果等摆列在庭院中以乞巧。如果有蜘蛛在瓜果上织网，就认为是织女星神降临的显示，明确把穿针引线作为提高缝纫技艺的乞巧行为。而年轻姑娘们会把事先准备好的五彩丝线和七根银针拿出来，对月穿针，谁先把七根针穿完，就预示着将来她能成为巧手女。
七夕食俗也引人注目，《东京梦华录》说北宋人以面糖蜜选为笑靥（yè）儿，谓之“果食花样”。《清嘉录》记苏州乞巧用的巧果。正德《建昌府志》说当地“多用米粉煎油食”。七夕节最基本的习俗则是陈瓜果，焚香于庭，祭祀牵牛、织女二星，祭毕，才开始各种乞巧活动。
七夕节丰富的文化内涵和风俗传统，尽管在不同年代、不同地方有所差异，都承载着先民对乞巧、乞子、乞美、乞智、乞寿的美好理想，凝聚着劳动人民的勤劳与智慧以及多姿多彩的民俗风情。
现代七夕催旺“浪漫经济”
七夕当天，从酒店数据上看，去哪儿平台上预订在七夕当天（8.22）入住酒店的客人较前一日（8.21）预订入住的增幅达到40%。途家民宿数据显示，8月22日至23日，热门城市民宿预订量同比2019年增三成。
七夕叠加暑期出游高峰，带娃旅行的80后年轻父母和结伴出游的00后学生党成为今年七夕出游预订量占比最高的人群。其中，80后预订量占比超四成，排名第一；00后占比近三成，排名第二。此外，80后消费力最强，每晚平均花费570元，较2019年同期增长三成。
平台上带有“特色景观”“投影”“影音房”等标签的房型更受欢迎。携程数据显示，被美景环绕的酒店、特色主题房型持续热销中。今年七夕，可以窝着享受电影的影音房间夜量同比去年七夕增长196%；带娃一起过节的亲子房间夜量同比增长71%。
整体来看，七夕当日的酒店预订热门城市中，北京、上海、青岛、西安、杭州、成都、南京、广州、长沙、重庆分列前十位，其中多地也是暑期热门目的地。此外，女性用户们是七夕节选择酒店的“话事人”，下单的女性用户占比62%。“七夕模式”的开启，商家们纷纷抢抓“甜蜜商机”，推出七夕相关主题促消费活动，为消费者提供更多浪漫选择。
作为七夕的首选礼物之一，鲜花的预定、销售呈上升态势，各种象征甜蜜爱情的花束迎来热销。
美团提供的数据显示，截至七夕当日中午12点，鲜花总订单量同比去年七夕增长近30%，环比“520”增长41%。美团买菜数据显示，七夕期间，平台鲜花商品种类已扩展到近60个，小花束涨幅超过300%，手工制作花束的花材、花瓶等销量增长70%。深圳位居购买鲜花最多的城市Top10前列。
从唯品会七夕前一周的消费数据来看，礼盒消费占比增长显著，整体销售额比起日常增长超过150%，多个品牌销售额迎来倍数增长，其中SKII品牌增长超过10倍，飞科FLYCO增长超过6倍，雅萌增长超过5倍。
国潮加持“玩转”七夕
七夕文化早已融入中华文化的血脉，寄予了中国人对忠贞不渝爱情的无限向往。
2006年5月20日，七夕节被列入第一批国家级非物质文化遗产名录。进入中国特色社会主义新时代以来，随着一系列关于传承发展中华优秀传统文化的文件出台，七夕文化的传承也迎来新的历史机遇，让广大群众切实感受到传统节日的独特魅力，从中汲取传统文化的丰富素养，不断增强砥砺前行的精神力量。
国潮盛行之下，七夕节被赋予了更为浓厚的中国传统文化色彩，吸引着越来越多年轻用户参与其中。
马蜂窝大数据显示，近一周，“看展”以超过100%的环比涨幅在七夕玩法榜单上领跑。文艺、国潮、慢节奏，成为了今年七夕年轻人的游玩关键词，除看展外，听音乐会、逛创意市集、观星、汉服游园等文艺体验在榜单中占比高达70%。
近年来，各类艺术展凭借极具巧思的策展和丰富多样的内容，对年轻人的吸引力正与日俱增。一线及新一线城市是各类艺术展的主要“集散地”，在今年“七夕”最热衷看展的城市中，北京、上海、广州、成都、深圳位列前五。
作为中国传统佳节，七夕的庆祝活动也常与国潮元素密不可分。
除了听国风音乐会、逛国风手作市集，身着汉服游园，体验七夕乞巧等民俗，也令年轻人乐此不疲。8月20日傍晚，“相聚圆明·爱在七夕”七夕传统文化节日活动在圆明园遗址公园举办。活动通过经典诵读、文化讲座、画团扇、着汉服、放荷灯等丰富多彩的形式向大众展示传统七夕节日的文化内涵。苏州桃花坞唐寅故居举办的七夕限定汉服游园会，已被不少年轻人提上日程。
沉浸于暑期“狂欢模式”中的各大主题乐园，是爱热闹的年轻人节日约会的不二之选。北京欢乐谷专为七夕打造了“非遗时光周”，带动其热度大涨300%。届时，游客在玩转游乐项目之余，还能在主题集市里邂逅非遗文化和传统民俗，亲身体验古法蓝染和扎染等非遗技艺。
作为广州一年一度的民俗文化盛会，广州乞巧文化博物馆再次作出新探索，联动网易《天下》手游开展“乞巧望秋月”文化节活动，让传统文化跃然游戏世界，灵动地展现在虚拟世界，令人们真实地“触碰”到传统文化。捉喜鹊、亮鹊桥、吃巧果……联动期间，游戏场景中，大荒内的七夕氛围将直接拉满，不仅有大荒鹊桥等你点亮，还有各种趣味玩法欢乐开启。活动期间，玩家可以捉喜鹊、亮鹊桥、吃巧果，还有各种趣味玩法等待玩家探索，游戏通过牛郎织女等人物营造节日氛围的同时，也将吃巧果、穿针赛巧等大家较为熟知的乞巧习俗融入趣味玩法之中，通过游戏更好地提高对文化的“能见度”。
“浪漫和多元文化结合，产生了新的文旅经济模式，浪漫经济是当前中国年轻人文化特征的延伸。”浙江大学国际联合商学院数字经济与金融创新研究中心联席主任、研究员盘和林表示，大量的年轻人以不同的小众文化划分为不同群体，并在群体内以文化符号为纽带进行社交，而浪漫经济是当前年轻人文化消费的新特征。
七夕作为中国传统节日之一，有着悠久的历史渊源和丰富的精神内核，在当下更有着不少的关注度和热度。在新时代的征程中，更应当增强文化自觉、坚定文化自信，将传统文化习俗与现代时尚形式交融贯通，推动传统文化“破壁出圈”，呈现中华传统文化之美。
Executive Editor: Sonia YU
Editor: LI Yanxia
Host: Stephanie LI
Writer: Stephanie LI
Sound Editor: Stephanie LI
Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni
Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.
Presented by SFC
编委: 于晓娜
策划、编辑：李艳霞
播音：李莹亮
撰稿：李莹亮、实习生黄青衣
音频制作：李莹亮
设计：郑文静、廖苑妮
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