August 2 Is Chinese Traditional Valentine's Day.

[Thomas Promise]

Surprise your better half this Saturday. August 2 is Chinese Valentine's Day.

[dnoblett]

Double 7th Festival.

 

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/images/photogallery/2013/double-seventh.jpg

 

Double Seventh Festival of 2014 falls on August 2.

 

Falling on the seventh day of seventh lunar month, the Double Seventh Festival in China is what Valentine's Day to the western countries. As it is a day of great importance to girls, the event is also called Young Girls' Festival. Because of the beautiful legend about Niu Lang and Zhi Nu, the festival has been endowed with the meaning of great romance.

• Legend of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu

As one of the Chinese four folk legends concerning love, the legend of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu features the Double Seventh Festival.

 

It is said that Niu Lang was a cowboy who had a kind heart even though he was without living parents. Living with his brother and brother-in-law, he was maltreated. One day, after having been driven out of his home, an old man (in fact a supernatural being), guided him to the sick cattle from heaven. With great care from Niu Lang, the cattle recovered. In order to show gratitude to Niu Lang, the cow helped him get acquainted with Zhi Nu - a fairy from the heaven. They fell in love with each other and married to live a happy life with Niu Lang planting in the field while Zhi Nu did weaving at home. They were also magically given a boy and a girl. However, good times didn't last long because Zhi Nu's deeds were known by the king of the heaven who took her back to heaven. With the cow's help, Niu Lang flew to heaven along with his two children as they chased their wife and mother. It was just at that moment before he could reach Zhi Nu that the queen of the heaven created a huge river between them. Tears from the two flowed continuously so that even the queen was moved. As a result, she allowed them to meet only on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month every year.

 

Therefore, the day that Niu Lang and Zhi Nu meet is the present Double Seventh Festival.

• Customs

While the customs of this festival varies according to the different regions, the same hope is cherished by all.

The most prevalent custom is that of girls praying to Zhi Nu for skillful hands for sewing. Because Zhi Nu is regarded as a beautiful woman deft at weaving, in the evening of the festival, girls sew some articles to compete with each other and prepare some delicious fruits to worship Zhi Nu in order to be endowed with the masterly sewing skill. Not only hoping for this skill, they also pray to have a sweet love.

 

In the rural regions, people usually see the meeting of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu as two stars in the sky. At the same time, the old people tell the young about this old love legend. Unfortunately, this is not popular in cities nowadays.

• Today's Double Seventh Festival

In the Chinese cities, the Western Valentine's Day is more favored than the Double Seventh Festival by young people. They spend the latter as the Valentine's Day. Although some traditional customs have been changed or been lost, the legend of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu is still passed down from generation to generation. Like the presents of Valentine's Day, flowers and chocolates are also the popular ones.

 

Whatever way the festival is spent, great love is expressed between the young.

[Thomas Promise]

My Mrs. told me another version of this holiday.

On this day, the Chinese people celebrate the love story of a poor farmer boy who fell in love with a beautiful weaver from heaven. The great distance meant that they could see each other only once a year. Every year, helpful magpies birds built a path for the lovers to travel and see. No matter how impossible if the love is true always finds the way.

[Greg.D.]

I am in the U.S. and my fiance is in Beijing.

 

I have looked sometimes at the possibility of ordering something online to send to her - it seemed limited and expensive. Given that it is soon "Valentine's Day" - I could probably overlook the expensive part if there was a way to surprise her with something nice.

Can anybody recommend or recommend against online gift ordering (from here to be delivered in the U.S.? I am pretty confident about the delivery happening this Friday - but I don't see much options other than a gift basket. Oh, I think I've seen flowers before.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Greg

[dnoblett]

I am in the U.S. and my fiance is in Beijing.

 

I have looked sometimes at the possibility of ordering something online to send to her - it seemed limited and expensive. Given that it is soon "Valentine's Day" - I could probably overlook the expensive part if there was a way to surprise her with something nice.

Can anybody recommend or recommend against online gift ordering (from here to be delivered in the U.S.? I am pretty confident about the delivery happening this Friday - but I don't see much options other than a gift basket. Oh, I think I've seen flowers before.

 

Thanks for any suggestions,

 

Greg

I use to send flowers to my wife using this online service:

 

http://www.chinaflowerstore.com/

http://www.chinaflowergift.com/

 

The prices are not bad considering.

[Thomas Promise]

http://cn.flower.localstreet.com/

Edited July 30, 2014 by Thomas Promise (see edit history)

[Randy W]

I am in the U.S. and my fiance is in Beijing.

 

I have looked sometimes at the possibility of ordering something online to send to her - it seemed limited and expensive. Given that it is soon "Valentine's Day" - I could probably overlook the expensive part if there was a way to surprise her with something nice.

Can anybody recommend or recommend against online gift ordering (from here to be delivered in the U.S.??? I am pretty confident about the delivery happening this Friday - but I don't see much options other than a gift basket. Oh, I think I've seen flowers before.

 

Thanks for any suggestions,

 

Greg

 

 

Assuming you actually mean ordering and delivery both in China - check Taobao.com also. But it's all in Chinese and you would need a Chinese payment method (bank card or credit card).

[Greg.D.]

Thanks, Randy,

 

I'll use one of the above for US ordering, China delivery. I would have pulled the trigger by now but I lost the pic of her office building that had the building number in it .... I am trying to trick her into telling me right now so I can surprise her ... Maybe I can use google street view,

 

Greg

[Greg.D.]

I had great difficulty using www.chinaflowerstore.com and www.chinaflowergift.com. The PayPal link would not work for me (Firefox) and my never-fail CC that I often use in China said "Do Not Honor". I tried contacting them - I know it is beginning of business day there but I have heard nothing back.

 

So, I used http://www.china-flowers.com/. It has a greatly updated website and the transaction was smooth and the prices were lower. Thomas P: your site looks modern and functional, too. I did not see any Teddy Bears there so I used china-flowers. Same day delivery "no problem".

 

If it does NOT work, I'll update this.

Greg

[Thomas Promise]

Chinese Peaches Dressed With Lingerie Look Like Sexy Butts.

 

http://www.boredpanda.com/peaches-with-lingerie-china/

[Randy W]

I had great difficulty using www.chinaflowerstore.com and www.chinaflowergift.com. The PayPal link would not work for me (Firefox) and my never-fail CC that I often use in China said "Do Not Honor". I tried contacting them - I know it is beginning of business day there but I have heard nothing back.

 

So, I used http://www.china-flowers.com/. It has a greatly updated website and the transaction was smooth and the prices were lower. Thomas P: your site looks modern and functional, too. I did not see any Teddy Bears there so I used china-flowers. Same day delivery "no problem".

 

If it does NOT work, I'll update this.

 

Greg

 

 

One thing I forgot to mention, Greg (of course, now it's too late - sorry 'bout that) is this

 

Use Your Discover Card in China

It should work anywhere that Union Pay works (they even provide a little card in Chinese to show the merchant)

[Greg.D.]

....

It should work anywhere that Union Pay works (they even provide a little card in Chinese to show the merchant)

Randy, I am in the US. In China and online, my CITI card is denied but my BofA goes through. Although, once in Kunming, out of laziness I think, they would not accept any of my cards to pay for extra luggage at the otherwise very modern airport, and I missed a flight. I talked to someone at CITI who was so proud that my attempt to use my card to buy a VPN a few weeks ago (from Beijing) was denied and they saved ME from fraud.

 

I explained that getting an email an hour later offering to approve the charge had no connection to modern life and its conveniences - also, the email gave me two choices: I could call it fraud or approve the transaction. Being an hour too late, I didn't want to approve it nor did I want to label it fraud and give Astrill a bad name.

 

Thanks for the tip about Discover. There is probably one in my future. I believe Capitol One cards also do not charge the foreign transaction fee - similar to what you say about the Discover card in the other thread.

 

Referring to others' comments in other threads who could not reach their credit union: I, too, have noticed different DNS and access behavior in different cities in China. Also, one reason I got the VPN this last time was that I could not do some banking I needed to do as my login attempts were not blocked in China, but were being blocked at the US side of things. Money well spent on the VPN and I left the iPad option for my fiancé (astrill gives you one PC, one I-device for your money).

 

Greg

[Randy W]

 

....

It should work anywhere that Union Pay works (they even provide a little card in Chinese to show the merchant)

Randy, I am in the US. In China and online, my CITI card is denied but my BofA goes through. Although, once in Kunming, out of laziness I think, they would not accept any of my cards to pay for extra luggage at the otherwise very modern airport, and I missed a flight. I talked to someone at CITI who was so proud that my attempt to use my card to buy a VPN a few weeks ago (from Beijing) was denied and they saved ME from fraud.

 

I explained that getting an email an hour later offering to approve the charge had no connection to modern life and its conveniences - also, the email gave me two choices: I could call it fraud or approve the transaction. Being an hour too late, I didn't want to approve it nor did I want to label it fraud and give Astrill a bad name.

 

Thanks for the tip about Discover. There is probably one in my future. I believe Capitol One cards also do not charge the foreign transaction fee - similar to what you say about the Discover card in the other thread.

 

Referring to others' comments in other threads who could not reach their credit union: I, too, have noticed different DNS and access behavior in different cities in China. Also, one reason I got the VPN this last time was that I could not do some banking I needed to do as my login attempts were not blocked in China, but were being blocked at the US side of things. Money well spent on the VPN and I left the iPad option for my fiancé (astrill gives you one PC, one I-device for your money).

 

Greg

 

 

Yes - my understanding was that you are in the US, and were wanting to buy something for your wife in China. Buying from a US merchant would have required a longer delivery time, so I assumed you wanted to buy from a Chinese merchant over the telephone or Internet. That's where the Discover card might have come in - perhaps just by telling them to ring it up as if it were Union Pay (which is what the card says to do).

 

About the DNS servers - through your 'Internet Properties' settings, you can specify which DNS servers you want to use. Most can be freely accessed. While in China, you can specify DNS servers back in the US.

[Greg.D.]

 

About the DNS servers - through your 'Internet Properties' settings, you can specify which DNS servers you want to use. Most can be freely accessed. While in China, you can specify DNS servers back in the US.

Now you reall taught me something!

 

Thanks,

Greg

[Joecy]

Surprise your better half this Saturday. August 2 is Chinese Valentine's Day.

very sweet~