Qixi Festival /Double Seven Festival FactsChinese Name: 七夕节 Qīxījié /chee-sshee-jyeah/ 'Seventh Evening Festival'Date: August 14, 2021 (month 7 day 7 of the Chinese lunar calendar)History: over 2,000 yearsCelebrations: giving gifts (flowers, chocolates, ties...) to romantic partners, romantic dates - dinners, movies, etc.Original Story The general tale is a love story between Zhinü (织女, the weaver girl) and Niulang (牛郎, the cowherd).Niulang 牛郎was an orphan who lived with his brother and sister-in-law. He was often abused by his sister-in-law. They eventually kicked him out of the house, and gave him nothing but an old cow. One day, the old cow suddenly spoke out, telling Niulang that a fairy will come, and that she is the heavenly weaver. It said the fairy will stay here if she fails to go back to heaven before morning. In accordance with what the old cow said, Niulang saw the beautiful fairy and fell in love with her, then they got married. The emperor of heaven(玉皇大帝, The Jade Emperor) found out about this and was furious, so he sent minions to escort the heavenly weaver back to heaven. Niulang was heartbroken and decided to chase after them. However, the Queen Mother of the West drew a Silver River (The Milky Way) in the sky and blocked his way. Meanwhile, the love between Niulang and the weaver `s story moved the magpie , and they want to help them to unit and thus they flied together to built a bridge of magpies over the Silver River for them to meet. The Emperor of Heaven was also moved by the sight, and allowed this couple to meet on the Magpie Bridge in the heaven once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. That was the origin of the Qixi Festival Story. Chinese people want to celebrate this day to express their feelings to this true love story.
Vocabulary
【海誓山盟】hǎi shì shān méng
a solemn pledge of love
海 hǎi： the coean
誓shì: the vow; swear
山shì： Moutain
盟méng : Unit
e.g. 【例句】
Once a solemn pledge of love has been already indifferent, did two persons lead along by hand andreally already go to the end?
曾经的海誓山盟都已淡漠，两人牵手真的已走到尽头？
【订婚】dìng hūn
e.g. 【例句】
订dìng： pin
婚 hūn： 婚姻 marriage
to engaged
丽娜和大鹏已经订婚了。
Lina and Dapeng has engaged.
【相亲 】xiāng qīn
e.g. 【例句】
相xiāng： 相互 each other
亲qīn ： 亲戚 relatives
blind date/match making
这对情侣是通过相亲的形式相遇的。
This couple met by blind date.
【闪婚】shǎn hūn
lighting marriage
闪 shǎn ： light, it usually used to describe quick.
婚hūn：marriage
e.g. 【例句】
Lightning marriage is not a good choice, because it needs time to get to know others, to see whetherthe two people are suitable to live together.
闪婚不是一个好的选择，因为了解一个人是需要时间的，去看看两个人是否合适住在一起。
【结婚】jié hūn
to get married
结jié：结合 to unit
婚hūn : 婚姻marriage
e.g. 【例句】
他们决定结婚，正式确定关系。
They decided to formalize their relationship by getting married.
【一见钟情】yī jiàn zhōng qíng
一yī： first
见 jiàn： to meet/sight 见到
钟zhōn： crush
情qíng：love 感情/爱情
Love at the first sight
e.g. 【例句】
他帅极了–我对他简直就是一见钟情。
He was fantastically handsome – I just fell for him right away.
【日久生情】rì jiǔ shēng qíng
love will come in time
e.g. 【例句】
日rì ： day
久jiǔ : long time
生shēng： grow
情 qíng ： feelings/love
e.g. 【例句】
爱情与迷恋之间有哪些差别呢？真正的爱情可能是日久生情而不是骤然间坠入爱河。
What are some of the differences between love and infatuation? Genuine love is more likely to involve a process of "growing" in love rather than "falling" in love.
【有情人终成眷属】yǒu qíng rén zhōng chéng juàn shǔ
All shall be well, jack shall have Jill /The lovers finally got married.
有yǒu ： to have
情人qíng rén： the lover
终zhōng : Finanly
成chéng ： to become
眷属 juàn shǔ ： couple
e.g. 【例句】
Even though she had left, he still believe that all shall be well, jack shall have Jill, he must dosomething.
尽管她已经离去了，他仍然相信，有情人终成眷属，他必须做点什么。
