Where is the birthplace of Tanabata Valentine's Day?

China News Service, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Tanabata Festival is approaching, and the culture of cowherd and weaving maiden has become the brand of Heshun, Shanxi Province

Reporter Zhang En

The Tanabata Festival, which is the "Valentine's Day" of the Chinese people, is approaching the Chinese people.

In Heshun County, Shanxi Province, the hometown of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden in Chinese mythology, the legend of this love story is a household name and has become a major cultural brand in the area.

Annually on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar this day in many parts of Shanxi has been handed down from generation to generation to the Weaver Star "begging for coincidences" of the ancient customs, folklore has been handed down on the day of the night and drying the clothes of the custom, the people used to tile the birth of bean sprouts and other forms of fulfillment of this wish. Every year, the connotation of the legend of the cowherd and the weaving maiden is not only limited to love, the Tanabata custom also has many cultural connotations.

Heshun County in Shanxi Province, a small mountainous county at the top of the Taihang Mountains, has long held a place in the hearts of the Chinese because of a beautiful folk legend. Previously, Heshun County was named by the Chinese National People's Political Consultative Conference as the "Hometown of Cowherd and Weaving Maiden Culture in China", 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 once 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 Fenghuangtai Opera, Wugu painting, paper-cutting, embroidery and other human history, legends and folk art, by the local craftsmen to show.