The Hometown of Cowherd and Weaving Maiden

The legend of Cowherd and Weaving Maiden and "Tanabata" originated from the celestial stars. As early as in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were records of "Cowherd" and "Weaving Maiden" in "Shijing-Xiaoya-Dadong". Here, the two stars of the Weaving Maiden and Altair are only used as natural star images to draw out a metaphorical association, without any storyline. At this time, they only as a cultural factor, began to enter the literature of this big system. It is this "factor" that prepares the potential cultural conditions for the generation of the legend. Wang Yi's Chu Rhetoric, Volume 17, "Shou Zhi": "Lift up the sky to cover up the evil, and enough sky to arc and shoot the treacherous." Expressed the cowherd and weaving maiden marriage.

Western Han Dynasty Cowherd and Weaving Maiden astrological signs evolved into moving myths and legends. Western Han Dynasty Emperor Wu Yuanhao three years (120 BC) in order to conquer the southwestern countries, the training of naval forces, excavated Kunming Pond. On the east and west sides of the pool were set up Cowherd, Weaving Maiden stone statues, looking across the river, Ban Gu "Xidu Fugue" has a sentence: "Proceeding to the pool of Kunming, the left pulling the cow and weaving Maiden right, like the clouds of the Han's no end." Li Shan note cited "Han Gong Que Shu" cloud: "Kunming Pond has two stone people, Altair and Weaving Maiden like." Cowherd and Weaving Maiden myths and wonderful legends from heaven to earth, but also widely circulated in the Chinese land.

With the passage of time, the Weaving Maiden, Altair has been rumored to be the two gods, Kunming Pond Cowherd and Weaving Maiden stone statues are also honored by the local people as "stone master God", "stone goddess". Over time, the people of the stone statue of reverence and superstition, began to worship up, the Tang Dezong Zhenyuan 14 years (798 AD), repair the Weaving Maiden Temple set up cases for worship, for thousands of years the incense has been very strong.

The "Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden" in Chang'an District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2010.

There are two big and stout stone statues in Nanfeng Village, Doumen Town, Chang'an District, Xi'an City, locally known as the "Stone Woman" and "Stone Master". According to reports, these two stone statues have been more than 2100 years ago.

Han Wu Di Yuanhao three years (120 BC) "hair banished officials wear Kunming Pond" moment stood on the banks of the Kunming Pond, commonly known as the "stone masters stone grandmother". Cowherd statue in Changan District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, Changjiazhuang, Doumen Town, Changjiazhuang village north, the Weaving Maiden statue in Doumen Town, cotton spinning factory, the two are about 3 kilometers apart.

Tang Dezong Zhenyuan 14 years (AD 798), here was built "stone master temple", "stone grandmother temple". For thousands of years, the temple has been continuously burning with incense, and still retains the large-scale folk cultural activities of sacrificing to the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden on the eve of the seventh day of the seventh month.

"Shiba Temple" is also called "Weaving Maiden Temple". On the wall outside the temple gate, there is a large piece of red paper, which records the amount of money donated by the villagers for the construction of the temple.

When you enter the temple, you can see a stone statue of the Weaving Maiden and a merit box on guard. The stone statue is wearing clothes, and when you look closer you can see that its shape and lines are quite rough, so much so that some people ask, "Is this a stone woman or a stone master?

Every year on the 17th day of the first month and the 7th day of the 7th month of the first year, the place is crowded with people and the incense is very popular. There are many people who ask for education, marriage and children, and they are all very lucky.

Some research articles say that the "Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden" originated in Doumen Town, Chang'an District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. Local gradually formed a large-scale activities twice a year (the sixteenth of the first month, said to be the seventeenth of the first month of the cow maiden marriage. The meeting on the seventh day of the seventh month), as well as the practice of going to the temple on the first and fifteenth day of each month. As we all know, the Central Plains is an important birthplace of Chinese civilization, and the folk culture of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden originated in the region where the farming civilization was first developed on the Chinese land. And the earliest formation of farming civilization in the climate, geographic conditions are very advantageous in the Central Plains around the Songshan Mountain area. Songshan south of the Ru Shui, smoothie level of the original, are the first people to carry out farming production area, but also the Spring and Autumn and Warring States and Qin, Han, Jin and other dynasties of agricultural civilization is the most developed place. Lushan County, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province, the original town, summer and business establishment, a long history, Lushan County, several books, including the earliest Ming Jiajing "Lushan County Records" and the city, county, township gazetteer, for the Cowherd and Weaving Women's toponymic legends are recorded. Pingdingshan City Geographic Names, Lushan County Geographic Names, Lushan County Xinji Township (jurisdiction Lufeng Mountain) Geographic Names, and other books: "In ancient times, the village had a Sun Shouyi young man, loyal and simple, often in the Lushan slopes cattle, commonly known as the Cowherd. One day, the Jade Emperor's nine daughters were bathing in the root pool of Lushan slope, and the nine sisters' (i.e., the Weaving Maiden) clothes were taken away by Sun Shouyi, who then married Cowherd." Cowherd descendants is the southwest foot of Lufeng Mountain Sun Yi Village Sun villagers, 80% of the village villagers surnamed Sun, are honored Cowherd as an ancestor, the Weaving Maiden for the nine old nuns or nine nuns milk, the old ancestral milk, respect for the "master of God" for the "God of God outside the master".

Lufeng Mountain (also known as Lushan, Lushanpo) around the story of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden there are more than a dozen relics. Ming Jiajing "Lushan County Zhi" for Lushan's earliest surviving a book. Zhi contained: "Cowherd hole, in the Ruiyun Guan under half a mountain, facing south, within the Cowherd God ...... Nine Women (rumors that the Weaving Maiden for the Jade Emperor's nine daughters) Pool, in the northeast of the county eighteen miles under the Lushan Mountain, the Pool on the Nine Women, the Dragon King Temple." Ruifengshan mountain top of the Ruiyun Guan in the Cowherd and Weaving Maiden Hall, within the plastic Cowherd and Weaving Maiden family portrait color sculpture and murals; Ruiyun Guan in front of the South Heavenly Gate, rumored to be the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden up to the sky; halfway south of the mountain Cowherd Cave rumored Cowherd and Weaving Maiden inhabited and got married to the place; 7 meters in front of the cave there is a stone wall hanging wall, rumored to be the Weaving Maiden's dresser.In March 2008, Lushan County Institute of cultural relics of the Cowherd Cave excavations, found that the mouth of the hole for the Han brick. Also unearthed in the Tang and Song dynasties of black porcelain bowl, pot piece and Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties of porcelain marigold piece, copper box ornaments, copper coins, etc., can be seen in Lushan people here on the Cowherd's worship from a long time.

There is a Cowherd grave 800 meters southwest of Cowherd Cave, and its descendants often go here to pay tribute to their ancestors; the western slope of the mountain beams at the height and width of 5 meters each of the white giant stone platform, known as the bright stone platform or bright sound platform, rumored to be the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden song and dance; not far away from the bright stone platform has an area of about 40 square meters of the Nine Women's Pool, the pool is clear, the seasons do not wither, and rumored to be the Weaving Maiden and all the sisters bathing, but also the local people praying for rain to seek a child. It is also a place for local people to pray for rain and children. There are three halls on the side of the pool, one for the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother, one for the nine daughters of the Jade Emperor, and the other for the Nine Daughters of the Spirit Hall, which is dedicated to the Nine Daughters of the Weaving Maiden. In front of the temple people spontaneously set up a monument, the monument for the "South Heavenly Gate Milky Way nine female stars of the God monument", here incense is strong, to the seventh day of the seventh lunar month for the most. From the point of view of the inheritance of the folk culture of Cowherd and Weaving Maiden, Lushan still retains unique and simple folk customs and folk songs. In Sunyi Village, where the descendants of the Cowherd are located, there are three ancestral halls of the Sun Clan dating back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which are dedicated to the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden, as well as to a pair of sons and daughters, and an old yellow cow. Sun's ancestral hall ancestor worship mainly in the lunar calendar every year on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, Spring Festival, the second day of the second month, the seventh day of the seventh month, etc., ancestor worship from the Cowherd Cave, the nine women Lingxiao Hall to invite the ancestors, and then send the ancestors, ancestor worship singing ancestor song, sprinkle wine, on the five grains, etc., these folk customs and folklore is also and the legend of the Cowherd and Weaving maiden of the folk culture legacy of the same.

To this day, Lushan retains the custom of cow worship, viewing the cow as a member of the family. There are more than 40 places with the word "cow" in their names. The cattle market in Lushan is also very famous. The annual Tanabata Temple Fair, the original site in the hometown of the Cowherd Sunyi Village (now moved to the township government seat Xinji Street), which is not only Lushan's liveliest summer meeting, but also the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden originated in Lushan's best evidence. Lushan has a history of planting sericulture, Lushan silk weaving technology is taught after the Weaving Maiden, Lushan silk is known as "Weaving Maiden Weaving", "Fairy Weaving", in 1914 was awarded the Gold Medal at the Universal Exhibition. Silk sericulture is still one of the main economic incomes of the people in the mountainous areas of Lushan. Lushan people also like to plant "nine girls flowers". Nine girls flowers that is, rape flowers, rumored to be the weaver brought down from the sky to let the earth in the spring drought. Lushan people also planted grapes in the compound, according to legend, when the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden met at the magpie bridge on the eve of the seventh day of the seventh month, people hiding under the grape arbor can overhear their breathless whispers. Yanya Township, Yiyuan County, Shandong Province, has the Weaving Maiden Cave and the Cowherd Temple, both of which were built in the Tang Dynasty. They are opposite each other across the Yi River, and the landscape pattern on both sides of the river echoes the "Altair - Milky Way - Vega" in the sky, which is strikingly similar, forming a unique landscape of the unity of man and nature and the magic of heaven and earth. Cowherd Temple was originally a two-story attic-style building, after many repairs, began to take shape, built three halls, green brick and green tile, painted arch, the building is magnificent. Inside the temple, there is a statue of Cowherd and his children in the main hall, and a statue of a golden cow lying on the side. Inside the yard cypress, secluded and chic.

The village next to the Cowherd Temple is called Cowherd Guanzhuang, most of the people in the village are surnamed "Sun", and the Cowherd (Sun Shouyi) happen to have the same surname, the village during the Ming Dynasty, the people in the village to Cowherd descendants of the self-proclaimed, and successive generations of the inheritance of the story of the Cowherd, and still inherited the silkworms, weaving, and take the double seven water and other customs. Every Tanabata Festival, the women of Niulangguanzhuang will excitedly fold out gold dollars from paper and offer them to the Weaving Maiden Cave.

There used to be a lot of steles on Daxian Mountain in Yanya Township, Yiyuan County, but because of the previous destruction, not many of them are still intact, but all of them have more or less connection with the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden in terms of the contents engraved on the steles. There is a stone monument "Weaving Maiden Cave Heavy Building Record" was erected in the seventh year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty (1579). The inscription says: "The Tang Dynasty people passed through the valley, heard the sound of the loom in the cave, so the name of the Weaving Maiden", which means the origin of the Weaving Maiden, meaning that in the Tang Dynasty someone passed through, heard the sound of the loom in the cave, and thought that the Weaving Maiden was weaving cloth, so the Weaving Maiden Cave was constructed, and the second sentence of the inscription---"On the other side of the river, there is the sound of the loom, which is the same as that of the cowherd. The second sentence of the inscription - "across the river and up the cattle Palace, so it is in the sky into the elephant, in the ground forming carry on ......". Shanxi Heshun is located in the top of the Taihang Mountains, a small mountainous county, because of a beautiful Han folklore and in the hearts of the Chinese people have long held a place. Previously, Heshun was named the "Hometown of Cowherd and Weaving Maiden Culture in China" by the Chinese National Association, and later officially announced by the State Council as the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. In the spring of this year, it was again named by the Shanxi cultural department as "the first batch of national traditional festivals (Tanabata Festival) demonstration and protection site in Shanxi Province".

In the local countryside of Heshun, there are many ancient names of places and scenery related to the story of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden. Names such as Niulang Cave, Jinniu Cave, Magpie Mountain, Nantianmen, Tianhe Pond and other places corresponding to the story's main character and a beautiful story have been recited by the local people.

The legend and culture of the Cowherd and Weaving Maiden in Heshun County is a rare and valuable human resource with high cultural and economic value. Clever Washun people are relying on the unique cultural resources, to create a cultural brand, to enhance the overall image of this place, to enhance the overall competitiveness of the economy and society.

Heshun County to speed up the rescue of traditional cultural resources, development and utilization, singing "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" cultural brand. By the provincial city of Jin opera starring the new Jin opera "Magpie Bridge" tonight began to perform in the Shanxi Provincial Performing Arts Center. In Heshun city and countryside, "folk paper-cutting works exhibition", "folk cloth pomelo painting Chinese medicine painting exhibition", "folk handicrafts exhibition" and so on were held one after another, a number of including Cowherd and Weaving Maiden, Chinese Virgin Mother The exhibition of human history, legend and folk art, including Cowherd and Weaving Maiden, Mother of China, Fenghuangtai Opera, Wugu Painting, Paper Cutting, Embroidery, etc., were shown by local craftsmen and women.

"Tanabata" originates from the mythological story of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden, and Heshun County in Jinzhong District of Shanxi Province is an important region where the romantic love story of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden takes place and develops (not to say that it's the only region), and it is an important region where the inheritance and development of Tanabata customs is of typical significance. Heshun County's Nantianchi and Niulangyu are less than 10 square kilometers in the realm of the natural and cultural landscapes and scenery related to the story of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden have been preserved in as many as 20 places, from the point of view of the names of the places, Tianheliang, Niulangyu, Nantianchi, and Muziyu (hairpin valley) are the names of the places or villages that have been documented early in local histories, and the rest of the place names and names of the related scenery have been popular among Han Chinese people for a long time, and the ones that can be seen nowadays are Niulanggou, Niulang Cave, Tianhechi, Niulangyu, Niulangyu, Niulangyu and Niulangyu. Nowadays, we can see Niulanggou, Niulang Cave, Tianhe Pond, Niulang Temple, Weaving Maiden Temple, South Heavenly Gate, Jinniu Cave, Laoxu Kou, Niutou Mountain, Xiangxibei, Magpie Mountain, etc., and there are also Wangmu Maiden Temple, Li Tianwang Pagoda, and Mazanshi, etc., which have been destroyed without a trace. The villagers have inherited the vivid story of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden and the Tanabata customary activities for generations, and the overall environment is very harmonious with the plot of the story of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden. After many field visits by relevant experts, on December 13, 2006, China Folk Literature and Art Association officially named Heshun as the "Hometown of Cowherd and Weaving Maiden Culture in China", and on June 7, 2008, the State Council listed the "Legend of Cowherd and Weaving Maiden Love" as one of the second batch of national-level legends in the State Council Document No. 19 of 2008, which is the first national-level legend of the Cowherd and Weaving Maiden. On June 7, 2008, the State Council listed Heshun County's "Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden Love" as one of the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.

Originating from such a story, the Han Chinese folk in Shanxi Province used to call the Tanabata Festival "Tianhe Matching". According to historical records of the late Qing Dynasty, the Han Chinese folk in Shanxi Province has retained the custom of tie like the festival, people in the streets and lanes with branches and other things tied into a pair of young men and women like, said the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden will meet in front of the image of the offerings of fruits and peaches and plums in order to show their congratulations.

The Tanabata Festival, the Han Chinese folk popular girls daughter-in-law to the Weaving Maiden to teach craft activities, known as "begging". Han Chinese folk in southwestern Shanxi used to use the year's new wheat straw woven into a bridge, decorated with Cowherd, the Weaving Maiden, the old cow, the boy and the girl, magpies and other images placed on the desk; or with colorful paper cut out of the above scenes pasted on the wall, to the Weaving Maiden prayers, take seven embroidery needles side by side with the hands of the hand, with a colorful thread through the needle holes, a smooth through the seven holes of the needle is thought to beg for the coquettish. Quwo County prevalent male and female children to star grass into the water to beg for coincidence. Jinbei region of Han Chinese folk custom during the day in the yard sun a pot of water, let the dust fall, the pot of water at night to form a film on the surface, the girl daughter-in-law embroidery needles coated with oil and then gently placed on the water surface, can make the needle floating surface of the person will be considered to beg a coincidence. Some places in northwestern Jin people in the pot of water placed in the bean sprouts, in the sun after the water refraction, the reflection of the water will show a variety of shapes, or centipedes or water snakes, or pigs and dogs or chickens and ducks, the reflection of the more rich and realistic means that begging for coincidence more and more. Changzhi area girls, the day before the Tanabata Festival to catch a spider spitting silk circle in the box, the next day to observe its web sparse and dense condition, the more dense the web is considered to be begging for more.

In Shanxi, boys also have to ask the cowherd to teach them how to plow on Tanabata. Some places in Jinnan, young men in the Tanabata Festival on the board or slate covered with soil, on the thatched cottage small scene, the field next to the house planted corn seedlings, known as the "Valley Board". Jinzhong, Jinbei popular wheat or beans soaked in water buds, Tanabata Festival with colored threads wrapped around the buds, called the "seed". Jinbei shepherd boy to plowing oxen woven with a garland, called the "birthday for the old ox".

Shanxi Province before and after the Tanabata rain, the Han Chinese folk Tanabata Festival as a "rainy day", said the Weaving Maiden across the river will be Cowherd, sadness and joy, can not help but tears like a spring, tears fall on earth, is the rain, so there is a "seven seven don't go out, go out to be rained on! So there is the proverb "Don't go out on the seventh day of the seventh month, but go out and get rained on". On this day, the girls have pounded phoenix flower red fingernail custom, it is said that the elderly will see the eyes bright, the mind does not faint. Shanxi in the old days to see the Tanabata River predicted that the price of rice, Tanabata River dim is the price of rice, Tianhe bright is the price of rice cheap, Han Chinese folk "Tianhe eye rice prices, Taiyi light when Kang" said. Modern Tanabata, Shanxi Province, Han Chinese folk have not so much to pay attention to, just in the girl in law is still popular among some begging activities; many places still retain the production of "clever food" habits, with white flour or cake noodles with sugar, oil, made into a variety of food; there are some places to eat watermelon at home, and in the watermelon on the skeletonized design pattern, said the "flower melon", these habits are the remains of the Tanabata custom. Utopia", in the dictionary in the special interpretation of the name, "meteorite" is a meteorite, meaning falling meteors; "West" is the direction, Vega is on the west bank of the Milky Way. "Utopia" two words mean that the heavenly Vega fell in Utopia, Vega and Cowherd love each other. Utica territory of the Tianhe River, not only in the name of the river and the story of the cowherd weaver in the Tianhe River match, but also with the Tianhe River Basin of the natural landforms and human landscape is also very closely linked. In the Tianhe River Basin, Utopia County, southeast of Shimenwan Hill, there is a seemingly female statue of the rock is called "stone mother-in-law", in the northwestern part of the Huagai Mountain also has a seemingly male statue of the peaks are called "stone Gonggong".

Utopian people from generation to generation believe that these two rocks are the incarnation of the cowherd and the weaver. In the upper reaches of the Tianhe River in the middle of the river there is a block of boulders called "hairpin stone", legend has it that the Queen Mother pulled the hairpin paddle the Tianhe River when the fossilized gold hairpin left here. Utopia County, the western part of the Hanging Drum Park, there is a "Hanging Drum" of the mountain stone, legend has it that Nuwa refining stone mending the stone of the sky, there is also a legend of the Weaving Maiden down to the mortal world when bathing to place the clothes of the fairy stone. On the east side of Tianhe River, there is Niangniang Mountain with an altitude of 1,069 meters, and the Niangniang Temple on the top of the mountain enshrines the statue of the Queen Mother. There is a nunnery called "Tianchi Nunnery" on the mountain of Shitizi to the northeast of Hangguguan. In the past, this was a place where incense burned. There is a nunnery on one side and a woman on the other. It has been proved that it was built by simple Utopian people in honor of Cowherd and Weaving Maiden. "To eat rice to Zhuxi, to marry a daughter-in-law to Utopia", Utopia is the hometown of beautiful women. Utica women are recognized for their handsome beauty, good heart and skillful hands. Nanyang City, Henan Province, Baotianman Fuyi Mountain area is a place of outstanding people. Here ancient trees in the sky, birds and animals gather, Shiren Mountain, the southern foot of the strange peaks competing, full of surging green, Xixia Longtan ditch waterfalls water and rocks, the scenery is unique, is a famous tourist attraction. Legend has it that the Cowherd met and fell in love with the Weaving Maiden here due to the guidance of the thousand-year-old cow, and lived a harmonious and sweet life from then on. After they had two children, the Queen Mother was furious when she knew that the Weaving Maiden had descended to the earth, and sent down heavenly soldiers to arrest the Weaving Maiden, and the Cowherd cried out. But the old cow let the cowherd put on his own psychic cowhide to catch up, the cowherd endured the pain and did as he was told, and then ascended to heaven to find the Weaving Maiden. In order to commemorate this thousand-year-old humane cow, the mountain where the cowherd used to live was called Mount Fuyushan.

Cowherd's hometown map

And in Nanyang City, 20 miles south of Wancheng District, Lihe Township, there is a natural village called Niulangzhuang, the village people said the legendary cowherd is the people in their village, is a young man named Sun Ruyi. In Niulangzhuang unearthed the "sacred cow mound" stone monument, and then the village built the Niulang Weaving Maiden statue, to the seventh day of the seventh month here on the incense.

The Sacred Ox Mound

The Ox Family House in Niulangzhuang, which has been handed down from generation to generation, is said to be the former residence of Niulang.

Niujiazhuang Ruins

Niu Langzhuang's drinking pit, which has been passed down from generation to generation, is said to be the place where Niu Lang used to let his cows drink water. The pit has been kept in this state in both dry and flood years.

The Cow Drinking Pit

The picture below shows the location of the legendary Magpie Bridge, which is said to have been a stone bridge that was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and then a monument was built to commemorate it.

Monument to the Magpie Bridge

Because after the Cowherd and Weaving Maiden were separated, Shiwa Village, the legendary birthplace of the Weaving Maiden, retained the custom of not intermarrying with the Cowherd and Weaving Maiden.

As for the archetypal aspect of the characters, the relevant personage pointed out that the cowherd weaving maiden are in fact mortals, are authentic Nanyang people. The Cowherd is a native of Sangzhuang, twenty miles west of Nanyang City, and the Weaving Maiden is a native of Shiwa Village (commonly known as Weaving Maiden Village), twenty miles south of the city. The Weaving Maiden eloped to marry Cowherd, and when the Weaving Maiden's family found out, they were separated. Cowherd searched for his wife and came to live near Shiwa Village, which then formed Cowherd Village.

Nowadays, on the seventh day of the seventh month every year, Niulangzhuang not only inherits the customs of "frying coquettish fruits", "begging for coquettishness" and "offering sacrifices", but also in the morning of this day, the old man has to kill the rooster for fear that it will report to the authorities in advance. The rooster is killed on the morning of this day, for fear that it will shorten the time for the meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden by announcing the dawn in advance.

Every year around the seventh day of the seventh month, the east bank of the White River, Niulangzhuang and its surrounding villagers, will go to Niulangzhuang incense burning rituals, praying for blessings and children.

The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden first originated in the star worship of the ancients, is the result of the deification of the stars in the sky and the personification of the Nanyang also exists as physical evidence. In the 1970s, in Nanyang, on the west bank of the Baihe River, Baitan Han Tomb excavated a "Cowherd and Weaving Maiden Constellation" Han portrait stone, the right side of the Cowherd whip held by the cattle, from the body, demeanor and walking point of view, undoubtedly after the domestication of the plowing oxen - Nanyang yellow cattle; the lower-left corner of the The weaver's sitting posture is also the labor posture of Han Dynasty women who operate the loom. [7]

In 2007, Nanyang's "Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden" was included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritages of Henan Province. [2]

In October 2012, the Nanyang City Bureau of Culture specifically implemented the "Cowherd and Weaving Maiden Legend originated in Nanyang" of the national intangible cultural heritage declaration, and ultimately succeeded, which culturally recognized the Cowherd and Weaving Maiden Legend originated in Nanyang. In the southern suburb of Taicang, south of the "Six Docks", there is a Huanggutang next to the Liujiagang, and there is a Huanggutang village beside the river. Ancient legend has it that this is the birthplace of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden. Before the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a Huanggu Temple on the village, where the idols of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden were enshrined, and there is a beautiful and touching myth and legend here.

The Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden were both gods and goddesses in the sky. The Cowherd was called the Star of the River Drum, which was later blackmailed as the Star of the Yellow Nun; the Weaving Maiden was called the Star of the Weaving Maiden, and was the granddaughter of the Queen Mother. Cowherd and Weaving Maiden love each other freely in the sky, the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother think that they are "inappropriate door, household is not right", in the name of "talking about love, affecting the work", the Weaving Maiden under strict supervision, the Cowherd relegated to the mortal world. Cowherd before, the weaving girl quietly said to the cowherd, if to the earth miss her, you can put the lotus tank full of water, looking at the water in the tank, you can see the weaving girl's silhouette. With this in mind, Cowherd was born into a farmer's house in Huanggu Village next to Huanggu Pond in the southern suburbs of Taicang.

The Cowherd on Huanggu Village, whose parents died when he was a child, lived in the house of his brother and sister-in-law. There was a cow that was a golden calf star from the sky flew to Niu Lang, Niu Lang then raised the cow and often went to the fields to graze the cow, very close. Brother and Sister-in-law usually kept bullying him and abusing him by burning good food and eating it secretly without letting Cowherd know. The old ox was spiritual and knew that brother and sister-in-law were stealing good food at home, so he told Cowherd to hurry home and eat it. Sister-in-law hated him so much that she forced Cowherd to split up the family. He said, "I don't want anything else, I want this cow, a piece of land, and a thatched roof.

After the separation of the family, Cowherd and Cowherd worked hard, took the cow to plow the land, and depended on the cow for their lives. Cowherd is smart and capable, and gradually grew into a strong and understanding of the young man, the fields after work, often riding on the back of the cow to play the flute to relieve boredom. When he misses the Weaving Maiden, he looks at the Weaving Maiden in the lotus tank. He played the beautiful sound of the flute, the heavenly Weaving Maiden listened to the fascination, has been in the colorful clouds listening to Cowherd play the flute, continuously listening to seventy-seven forty-nine days, aroused the adoration of the Cowherd. The old ox said, "Cowherd, Cowherd, beckon to her, and she will meet you if she is interested." The cowherd looked up into the colorful clouds, and saw a beautiful fairy, like the Weaving Maiden in the lotus jar, and waved to her. When the Weaving Maiden saw the cowherd waving to her, she pulled a silver hairpin from her head and threw it down, and with a sound of "brushing" the silver hairpin turned into an avenue through the sky, and the cowherd rode on the cow's back to the sky and met with the Weaving Maiden. Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden you love me, I love you, by the old cow as a matchmaker, the Weaving Maiden descended to the village of Huanggu, and the Cowherd was married.

They ploughed and wove, and gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, and lived a happy life. The weaver's cloth was especially good, business was good, and she was willing to teach the women in Huanggu village to learn to weave, and the neighborly relationship was very close. The old ox dying head resting on the river bank to the cowherd said: "I died, you peeled off my skin to put good, to the time of danger can be useful, cloaked in the body can go to heaven!" The river where the old ox died is still called "Niutoujing".

The Weaving Maiden was the granddaughter of the Jade Emperor. When the Jade Emperor realized that the Weaving Maiden was not weaving in the machine room, he sent the heavenly gods and goddesses to inquire and found out that the Weaving Maiden had been born in the village of Huanggu, married the Cowherd, and raised twins. The Jade Emperor was furious and sent the heavenly gods and generals to escort the Weaving Maiden away. Cowherd in the field plowing, suddenly see the sky is not good, rushed home, found that the weaving woman disappeared, looked up at the sky, see the weaving woman was escorted to heaven by the gods of the sky, hastily put on the cowhide, picked a load of children to fly up to the sky in a hurry, while chasing, while shouting, "heavenly generals do not have the impudence to return my wife!" The Weaving Maiden saw the Cowherd chasing after her, thinking that I am the Jade Emperor's granddaughter, and would not do anything to me, and that the Cowherd would be severely tortured when he went up to the sky, and waved her hand to tell them not to follow her, but the Cowherd refused to listen, and the Weaving Maiden, anxious, pulled a golden hairpin off her head, and scratched it out behind her, making a Milky Way, and the river tumbled and tumbled, with waves rolling over it, and stopping the Cowherd in the east side of the river, and not being able to cross the river.

The Jade Emperor captured the Weaving Maiden, reprimanded her severely, and imprisoned her in a machine shop for weaving. The Cowherd could not meet the Weaving Maiden, and his sons and daughters cried out for their mother. The Earth Mother (wife of the Jade Emperor, who is in charge of everything on earth) saw the weaving maiden's pity and pleaded with the Jade Emperor, who agreed that the weaving maiden and the Cowherd would meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month. On this day, by the birds and magpies to build a bridge, so that the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden took their children up to the sky, and met with the Weaving Maiden on the magpie bridge.