[Disclaim: Some text here are cited from Wikipedia under the GNU Document Licence]

Qi Xi (七夕; Pinyin: qī xī; “The Night of Sevens”) is Chinese Valentine’s Day (sometimes called Magpie Festival) It’s on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar; thus its name. In 2007, this festival falls today, August 19.

There is a very romatic story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. As in late summer, the stars Altair and Vega are high in the night sky, our ancestors observed that and a love story came out.

A young cowherd named Niulang (Chinese: 牛郎; Pinyin: niú láng, “the cowherd”, the star Altair) happens across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. Encouraged by his mischievous companion the ox, he steals their clothes and waits to see what will happen. The fairy sisters elect the youngest and most beautiful sister Zhinü (Simplified Chinese: 织女; Traditional Chinese: 織女; Pinyin: zhī nǚ, “the weaver girl”, the star Vega) to retrieve their clothing. She does so, but since Niulang has seen her naked, she must agree to his request for marriage. She proves to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang a good husband, and they are very happy together. But the Goddess of Heaven (in some versions Zhinü’s mother) finds out that a mere mortal has married one of the fairy girls and is furious. (In another version, the Goddess forced the weaver fairy back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds in the sky because she could not do her job while married to the mortal.) Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratches a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever (thus forming the Milky Way, which separates Altair and Vega).

Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar and takes care of their two children (his flanking stars β and γ Aquilae).

But once a year all the magpies in the world take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge (鵲橋, “the bridge of magpies”, Que Qiao) over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, the seventh night of the seventh moon.

There are also lots of traditions, but now in China, we usually treat Qi Xi as the second Valentine’s Day in a year. We also have many beautiful poems about Qi Xi, one of my favourite is:

秋夕 –(唐)杜牧
红烛秋光冷画屏，
轻罗小扇扑流萤。
天阶夜色凉如水，
坐看牵牛织女星。

Translated as:

The painted screen is chilled in silver candlelight,
She uses silken fan to catch passing fireflies.
The steps seem steeped in water when cold grows the night,
She lies watching heart-broken stars shed tears in the skies.

I am not so that sad, of course ;)

什么才是加油好男儿，看看这个!

南园【唐】李贺

男儿何不带吴钩，
收取关山五十州?
请君暂上凌烟阁,
若个书生万户侯?

–
注: 凌烟阁, 唐太宗皇帝制开国功臣24名画像于其中，以嘉不世奇功。

最近主打豪放词，盛唐诗歌。我要潜移默化改变我读者的审美取向。男儿当豪气干云（女孩子也该多读些，培养气质的）。
老爱上层楼，老无病呻吟，难过不难过？

定风波 — 苏轼

三月七日沙湖道中遇雨。雨具先去，同行皆狼狈，余独不觉。已而遂晴，故作此。

莫听穿林打叶声，
何妨吟啸且徐行。
竹杖芒鞋轻胜马，
谁怕？
一蓑烟雨任平生。

料峭春风吹酒醒，
微冷，
山头斜照却相迎。
回首向来萧瑟处，
归去，
也无风雨也无晴。

词以境界为最上。有境界，则自成高格，自有名句。－－王国维《人间词话》
我一直认为，盛唐的诗句，境界高，文风正。以登楼作赋为例，盛唐之登楼赋，无王粲之不用，无后宋之婉约，自成气象。凡欲成高格男儿者，当读唐诗。若爱宋词，当多读稼轩，东坡。

黄鹤楼 –崔颢

昔人已乘黄鹤去，此地空余黄鹤楼。
黄鹤一去不复返，白云千载空悠悠。
晴川历历汉阳树，芳草萋萋鹦鹉洲。
日暮乡关何处是，烟波江上使人愁。

登鹳雀楼 –王之涣

白日依山尽，
黄河入海流。
欲穷千里目，
更上一层楼。

秋登宣城谢朓北楼 李白

江城如画里， 山晚望晴空。
两水夹明镜， 双桥落彩虹。
人烟寒橘柚， 秋色老梧桐。
谁念北楼上， 临风怀谢公。

黄鹤楼送孟浩然之广陵 –李白

故人西辞黄鹤楼，
烟花三月下扬州。
孤帆远影碧空尽，
唯见长江天际流。

忆秦娥–李白

箫声咽①，
秦娥梦断秦楼月。
秦楼月，
年年柳色，
霸陵伤别。
乐游原上清秋节，
咸阳古道音尘绝。
音尘绝，
西风残照，
汉家陵阙。

–
南宋词人，白石有格而无情，剑南有气而乏韵，其堪与北宋人颉颃者，唯一幼安耳。近人祖南宋而祧北宋，以南宋之词可学，北宋不可学也。学南宋者，不祖白石，则祖梦窗，以白石、梦窗可学，幼安不可学也。学幼安者，率祖其粗犷滑稽，以其粗犷滑稽处可学，佳处不可学也。幼安之佳处，在有性情，有境界。即以气象论，亦有”傍素波干青云”之概。宁后世龌龊小生所可拟耶？

东坡之词旷，稼轩之词豪。无二人之胸襟而学其词，犹东施之效捧心也。

太白纯以气象胜。”西风残照，汉家陵阙。”寥寥八字，遂关千古登临之口。后世唯范文正之渔家傲，夏英公之喜迁莺，差足继武，然气象已不逮矣。

－－王国维《人间词话》

文以气为主，气之清浊有体，不可力强而致。譬诸音乐，曲度虽均，节奏同检，至於引气不齐，巧拙有素，虽在父兄，不能以移子弟。 －－曹丕 《典论·论文》

如此气象，雄浑大气！ 忍不住想说：熟读盛唐登楼赋，不会吟诗也高格。