文化 | Hello China 英文版《你好中国》（33-34）

2019暑假已至！本号试图利用假期时间，每天分享Hello China 英文版《你好，中国》，每期2集，从不同角度用英语阐释中华文化。为英语，尤其是高中英语学习中华文化铺路。

需要说明的是Hello China 英文版《你好，中国》是由中国国家广电总局主办、中国国际广播电台、高等教育出版社联合策划实施的大型多媒体系列文化项目。本分享视频来自腾讯视频，版权归原作者所有。本分享旨在学生英语学习。

《你好，中国》选取了100个代表中国传统文化精髓的汉语词汇，从不同侧面反映中国文化的博大精深，加深国外民众对中国和中华文化的了解。

33 Dragon Boat Festival and its tragic origins 

34 Qixi Festival: Chinese Valentine's Day

The Qixi Festival is celebrated on every 7th day of the 7th month according to Chinese lunar calendar. The festival is known as the Chinese Valentine's Day. In the past days, girls are the major part of participants of this festival and the main activity during the festival is asking for light hand (乞巧‘qi qiao’). Therefore this day is called Qi Qiao Festival or Girls Festival. It is the most romantic festival among Chinese traditional festivals. In 2018, the date of Qixi Festival will be August 17th.

Origins

Qixi Festival, which is originally known as Qiqiao Festival, originated from the Han Dynasty. In the book of Xijing Za ji written by Ge Hong, a famous doctor in the Eastern Jin, there was the earliest description about Qiqiao Festival.   

Folklore Story

In ancient China, a young cowherd called Niu lang  was an orphan and lived with an old cow. One day he came across a beautiful young lady, Zhinv, (织女，a weaver girl) the seventh daughter of Goddness, who was fed up with the boring heaven life and went to the earth for fun. Soon the two youngsters fell in love with each other and got married without the Goddess’s approval.

Niu Land and Zhinv Are Meeting on Magpie Bridge

The Zhinv proved to be a wonderful wife and Niu lang to be a very good husband. They lived happily and had 2 adorable sons. However, the Goddess finally found out that her daughter, a fairy girl, had married a mortal. She exploded with rage and ordered the heaven troop to catch Zhinv back.

On earth, Niu lang was very sad but can do nothing. Suddenly his old cow began to talk and told him that if he kill it and put on its hide, he might be able to go to heaven to find his wife. With great sadness, Niu lang killed the cow and did as what the cow told him with his two sons.

The Goddess knew it and was very annoyed. She took out her hairpin and scratched a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever, thus forming the Milky Way between Altair and Vega.

From then on, Zhinv could only sat on one side of the river and weaved sadly while Niu lang had to forever on the other side of the river and took care of their two children. But the magpies all around the world take pity on them. Every July 7th, they would fly together to form a magpie bridge over the stars, providing a way for the two lovers to meet for a single night.

Customs

Asking for Good Embroidery Skills

In this day, girls will throw a sewing needle into a bowl full of water on the night of Qixi as a test of embroidery skills. If the needle floats on top of the water instead of sinking, it proves the girl is a skilled embroiders.

Praying for Good lucky on Marriage and Family

Single women also pray for finding a good husband in the future. And the newly married women pray to become pregnant quickly.

Celebrate as the Valentine’s Day in Western Countries

As the time past, more and more young Chinese people begin to celebrate this day as Chinese Valentine’s Day because of the romantic folklore. Youngsters celebrate it in a very similar way as that in western countries.

观看更多 >>

---

关注“英语学习”，一起学习英语。