BEIJING - With white towel wrapped around the head and a whip in hand for driving the donkey, Ni Yusheng and his fellow teammates aroused the curiosity of passers-by in the famous ancient city of Pingyao Saturday, or the Qixi Festival in China.

A newly-wed couple poses with their marriage certificates at a marriage registry office in Ganyu county, Jiangsu province, Aug 6, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

They were performing for a young couple who chose to hold their wedding ceremony in a traditional form on this traditional Chinese festival.

Nowadays some young couples are very interested in the traditional Chinese wedding rituals popular during the 1960s and 1970s in the Loess Plateau. The bridegroom would use a donkey cart to pick up the bride to the ceremony, according to Ni.

Ni said their team, who are from a wedding planners agency and usually perform in wedding ceremonies, are often very busy on auspicious days, such as the Qixi Festival.

Qixi, or Night of Sevens, falls on the seventh day of the seventh month on the Lunar calendar. It is based on the legend of of two separated lovers, Niu Lang and Zhi Nu, who could only meet each other on Qixi through an interstellar bridge formed by all the world's magpies.

People have been moved by the love story and the tradition of Qixi has been preserved for more than 2,000 years.

Nowadays, many young people view Qixi as Chinese Valentine's Day and an occasion for celebration with their partners.

After staying at home for a couple of days in Taiyuan, capital city of Shanxi province, Li Jing hurried back to university in Beijing, just to celebrate Qixi Festival with her boyfriend,

"I drew a picture of him as a secret present. Qixi Festival is like Chinese Valentine's Day. I really want to spend the day with him," said Li.

While in Beijing, there are more than 300 couples waiting outside the marriage registration office of Chaoyang District in the morning. A lady surnamed Liang, who is the first in the line, said that August 6 was also her birthday. She thought it was a day with double happiness, so she began to wait here with her boyfriend on Friday evening.

Nearly three thousand couples in the Chinese capital applied to register marriage on Qixi Festival, according to data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs.

In China's east coast, the approaching Typhoon Muifa did not disturb lovers' mood of celebrating the festival.

Zhou Chao, a logistics company employee in Shanghai, booked two tickets of Harry Potter in advance.

"My girlfriend and I are both crazy fans of Harry Potter. I'll spend the day with her by reviewing the mythical story that have accompanied us for ten years, isn't that romantic?" said Zhou.

However, Hao Dongliang, who works in a public institution in Taiyuan, is not that in favor of the idea that Qixi Festival equals to Chinese Valentine's Day.

Hao, who heard the fairy tale between Niu Lang and Zhi Nu from his grandmother when he was a little child, said:"It is the faithfulness in their love about Qixi Festival that impresses us most, which is different from the meaning of Valentine's Day. The so-called Chinese Valentine's Day involves too much commercial interests."

Yu Miao, executive director from the Wedding Industry Committee of China Association of Social Workers, believed that the authentic Chinese Valentine's Day should be the Lantern Festival.

In ancient China, young women would leave their house and go outside to watch lanterns on the Lantern Festival, which provided the opportunity for young people to meet and fall in love with each other, Yu added.

Qixi, however, used to be a popular day for young, single women to pray for good needlework skills and a partner. It is a festival more for ladies and its original meaning is not closely related to love, said Yu.