Performers dressed in hanfu sing and dance at the Qixi festival launch event on Xinchenglu Street in Jiading district. [Photo provided to english.jiading.gov.cn]

A Qixi-themed event was launched on Aug 2 on Xinchenglu Street in Shanghai's Jiding district for the approaching Qixi festival, or the Chinese Valentine's Day, which falls on Aug 4 this year.

The origins of Qixi festival are based on the ancient Chinese myth of Niulang, a mortal orphan commoner, and Zhinyu, a celestial being, who could only cross paths once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month over a bridge made by tens of thousands of magpies.

The inaugural session of the event featured a number of special guests who represented contemporary Niulangs and Zhinyus. These couples had to be split up due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Some of them were married couples who were split up in different locations, and some of them left to battle the disease before their weddings.

The event also included a fun interactive session, including a hanfu (traditional Chinese clothing) show, a poetry guessing game, and a handicraft activity for tuanshan (round fan). Eight matched couples?participated in the games?in hanfu at the Qixi event.

Eight matched couples dressed in hanfu participate in various interactive games during the Qixi festival launch event on Xinchenglu Street in Jiading district. [Photo provided to english.jiading.gov.cn]

The event also witnessed the release of Xinchenglu Street's cultural brand products, which cover four themes – inheriting red culture, enjoying folk cultures, sharing public cultures, and creating industrial cultures.

According to Xinchenglu Street's officials, a series of festivals will be held to explore, build and extend the culture of the street, attract more young people to participate, and integrate culture, sports, tourism and business, in order to cultivate the street's characteristic cultural name card.

The event was broadcast on Bilibili and attracted more than 300,000 viewers.

Xinchenglu Street releases four cultural brand products at the Qixi festival launch event in Jiading district. [Photo provided to english.jiading.gov.cn]