【正文】 . The two fell in love at first sight and were soon married. They had a son and daughter and their happy life was held up as an example for hundreds of years in China. Yet in the eyes of the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Deity in Taoism, marriage between a mortal and fairy was strictly forbidden. He ordered the heaven troop to catch Zhinu back. Niulang grew desperate when he discovered Zhinu had been taken back to heaven. Driven by Niulang39。s misery, the cow told him to turn its hide into a pair of shoes after it died. The magic shoes whisked Niulang, who carried his two children in baskets strung from a shoulder pole, off on a chase after the empress. The pursuit enraged the empress, who took her hairpin and slashed it across the sky creating the Milky Way which separated husband from wife. But all was not lost as magpies, moved by their love and devotion, formed a bridge across the Milky Way to reunite the family. Even the Jade Emperor was touched, and allowed Niulang and Zhinu to meet once a year on the seventh night of the seventh month. This is how Qixi came to be. The festival can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (206 BCAD 220). Traditionally, people would look up at the sky and find a bright star in the constellation Aquila as well as the star Vega, which are identified as Niulang and Zhinu. The two stars shine on opposite sides of the Milky Way. Customs In bygone days, Qixi was not only a special day for lovers, but also for girls. It is also known as the Begging for Skills Festival or Daughters39。 Festival. In this day, girls will throw a sewing needle into a bowl full of water on the night of Qixi as a test of embroidery skills. If the needle floats on top of the water instead of sinking, it proves the girl is a skilled embroiders. Single women also pray for finding a good husband in the future. And the newly married women pray to bee pregnant quickly. Tradition transformed The love story of Niulang and Zhinu, and the Qixi Festival have been handed down for generations. Yet these ancient traditions and customs are slowly dying out. Many modern Chinese, particularly youngsters, seem to know more about St Valentine39。s Day on February 14, characterized by bouquets of roses, chocolates and romantic candlelight dinners, than they do about their homegrown day for lovers. Even Qixi is nowadays referred to as the Chinese Valentine39。s Day. More and more young Chinese people begin to celebrate this day in a very similar way as that in western countries. Fewer people than ever will gaze at the heavens on Saturday to pick out the two stars shining bright on either side of the Milky Way, that is, if people even know on which day Qixi falls. There are ready reminders dotted about, in the form of big ads saying Sales on Chinese Valentine39。s Day! in shops, hotels and restaurants. But few young women will mark the festival with their boyfriends, or take part in traditional activities to pray for cleverness. A largescale of exhibition on the Silk Road opened to the public in the National Museum on Thursday. The exhibition displays more than 400 treasures from Shaanxi province, Gansu province and 14 other regions. It is largest scale exhibition that shows the history of the Silk Road in recent years. AsAPECis going on in Beijing, the exhibit aims to show the world this brilliant section of history. The Silk Road is a series of trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent. It connected the West and East by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads, and urban dwellers from China and India to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time. I met my dear hubby in 2009 the second year I was in my school and it was the first year when he came here. We became colleagues. And there was nothing special happening during that year. He was just a kind and humble brother graduated from the same college as me. But we did not know each other till he became my colleague and his office desk was just in front of me. There was only a glass between us. So actually we could see each other when we both look up. But it is not the main reason that really draws us close. How we bee close to each other was something seems quite natural. We went out to play badminton with other colleagues and we sometimes chatted for a while. He is a man of few words but somehow sometimes will say something really humorous. Then one day, to my great surprise, I found a pot of beautiful flower on my desk. It was just the flower I had talked about with my colleague the other day, and I thought it was her who put the flower there. But the truth is not. It was the humble guy sitting in front of me. He just simply said ,”well, I caught sight of this flower and thought that it’s beautiful and you may like it”. I wonder why I was moved because of these simple words and present. Maybe it is the sincerity and the true self that impress me. I thanked him and some colleagues walked past my desk would appreciate the beautiful flower and they noticed that something romance happened there. Then later on, there were some little surprises once in a while. Once, there was something wrong with my drawer and I had plained about it unconsciously. And he fixed it for me. Then the other day, he placed several pink diamond roses beside the flower with a piece of paper saying” I love you more than I can say! Diamond stands for marriage, rose stand for love. I hope you are mine, bee my wife. You are the only girl who I really want to spend the rest of my life to stand by.” Although there were some grammar errors but I got what he meant. He meant so clear and so direct. And actually, I accepted him some days earlier. I was just waiting for him to break the ice. So finally, the mon interests and the mon understanding brought us together. Some people say the relationship and the feeling will change after getting hitched. You will find that