Qixi Festival (Chinese: 七夕节; literally "The Night of Sevens"), also known as Magpie Festival, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar; thus its name. It inspired Tanabata (七夕) in Japan, Chilseok (칠석) in Korea, and Thất Tịch in Vietnam. It has sometimes been called Chinese Valentine's Day (Chinese: 情人節; pinyin: Qíng rén jié) since the late 1990s, which is, strictly speaking, an inaccurate portrait of the festival.

Girls traditionally demonstrate their domestic arts, especially melon carving, on this day and make wishes for a good husband. It is also known by the following names:

In 2012, this festival falls on August 23.

See also: The Princess and the Cowherd

In late summer, the stars Altair and Vega are high in the night sky, and the Chinese tell the following love story, of which there are many variations:

A young cowherd, hence Niulang (Chinese: 牛郎; pinyin: niú láng; literally "[the] cowherd"), came across a beautiful girl--Zhinü (Chinese: 织女; pinyin: zhī nǚ; literally "[the] weavergirl"), the seventh daughter of the Goddess, who just had escaped from boring heaven to look for fun. Zhinü soon fell in love with Niulang, and they got married without the knowledge of the Goddess. Zhinü proved to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang to be a good husband. They lived happily and had two children.

Stephy Tang (born 15 October 1983) is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actress. She was formerly the lead singer of the pop group Cookies.

Tang graduated from Buddhist Sum Heung Lam Memorial College and the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education's Department of Fashion Design. In 2002, she joined Hong Kong music group Cookies and became the lead singer. She sang with Alex Fong in 「好心好報」, 「好好戀愛」, 「十分．愛(合唱版)」 (which won a Jade Solid Gold Award for the best duet in 2006), 「我的最愛」, 「重愛」 and 「七年」. She also appeared on TVB's variety show Beautiful Cooking.

Tang started her singing career in the music group Cookies. The main style of music from Cookies was teen pop. When Tang started her solo singing career, her record company, EMI, wanted a change to a more grown-up look and style. Some songs on her first album, Coloring Stephy, had a more mature and soft jazz influence than her previous music in Cookies. Generally, the album was widely heard and was popular, and it was certified Gold by IFPI Hong Kong.

Qin Hao (Chinese name: Chinese: 秦昊; pinyin: Qín Hào) is a Chinese actor. He is known for starring in the 2009 film Spring Fever.

In 1996, Qin entered China's Central Academy of Drama. He graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 2000.

Qin landed his first lead role in Lou Ye's Spring Fever, which was shown in competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival where it won the prize for best screenplay.

Hao Lei (Chinese: 郝蕾) (born November 1, 1978) is a Chinese actress. She was born in Tonghua, Jilin. Hao first gained international prominence as Yu Hong, the heroine in Lou Ye's 2006 film about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Summer Palace. In November 2010, she won a Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Chung Mong-hong's film The Fourth Portrait. Before that, Hao had also starred in numerous television productions.