China Stories

National Holiday.

1st October 2008, Flora

Because it's a bit of a slow diary week (everybody working on the website is on holiday this week - including me!) and because it's a special holiday in China today, I thought i'd do a brief blog to mention a couple of Chinese holidays!

As I said, today is a special holiday in China - National Day. National Day commemorates the anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, 1 October (1949). There has traditionally been a whole week of celebrations, but there is pressure from industry and business to make the celebrations shorter...

Another holiday coming up soon (on the 7th October), is the Chongyang Festival which is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar (which is why it's sometimes also known as the Double Ninth Festival). The festival is dedicated to older Chinese people, and the day of celebrations traditionally include activities such as hill climbing, eating chongyang cakes, admiring chrysanthemum flowers and drinking ... chrysanthemum wine!

The Chinese have a holiday similar to our Valentine's day. It's called "Qi Xi" which translates as "The Night of Sevens" because it falls on the 7th day of the 7th month in the Chinese lunar calendar. This holiday celebrates the story of a young farmer who falls in love with the most beautiful of 7 fairy sisters. There are lots of different versions of how the story ends!

See you when I get back from my time off!

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