Traditional crafts bring Qixi romance to life in Beijing

Editor's note: Qixi Festival, often called China's Valentine's Day, falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar. In 2026, it falls on Aug. 19. The festival was included in the first batch of China's national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006.

From Aug. 18 to 23, the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum, also known as the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum, is hosting a Qixi-themed display and interactive area featuring eight representative intangible cultural heritage projects. These include Qingyuan traditional incense-making, Bai tie-dyeing, velvet flower-making, Xiangxi Miao embroidery and Shui horsetail embroidery. Visitors can view and purchase handcrafted works, meet practitioners and try some of the crafts themselves.

Works featuring horsetail embroidery of China's Shui people on display at the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum in Beijing, Aug. 18, 2026. [Photo by Wang Yiming/China.org.cn]