Classic Hong Kong Romance Movies to Enjoy This Qixi Festival

Qixi Festival, also known as the Qiqiao Festival, is the Chinese Valentine’s Day based on a romantic legend about a weaver fairy girl who fell in love with an ox herd. It is one of the most romantic traditional festivals in China. The festival is also referred to as the Magpie Festival because once every year on this day, a flock of magpies comes together forming a bridge commonly referred to as the magpie bridge.

This day falls on the 7^th day of the 7^th month in the Chinese Lunar calendar hence the name Double Seventh Festival. This year’s celebration will be on Thursday, 4^th August. The day is not a public holiday. Since the Chinese globalization, people usually celebrate the day by giving their loved ones flowers and chocolates, among other romantic presents/gestures like movie date nights. In this article, we will take a look at the different Hong Kong romantic movies you can enjoy during this time.

Traditions of the Qixi Festival

The earliest recorded history concerning this famous Valentine’s Day dates back to over 2600. The festival has been celebrated since the Han Dynasty (206BC – 220AD). Even though there has been a lot of modernization of the Chinese culture, people in rural areas still observe the traditions. Here are some of them:

• Worshiping the weaver fairy

This tradition involves a table of offerings i.e. tea, wine, red dates, fruits, hazelnuts, peanuts, and melon seeds. In the evenings, young women sat around the table displaying their needlework, gazing at Vega, and praying for a good husband and a happy life. The women would then play games or read poems until midnight.

• Honoring Oxen

This tradition involves children picking bunches of wildflowers and hanging them on the horns of oxen in honor of the legendary ox.

• Showing skills

This is the most popular custom for women on the evening of Qixi. The time-honored way to win was to speedily thread a needle under the moonlight. The young women also carved exotic flowers, animals, and unusual birds, usually on a melon skin

They also made, by frying, and ate thin pastries of different shapes.

Six Classic Hong Kong Movies Perfect For Couples To Watch During The Qixi Festival

Hong Kong is one of the world’s most vibrant and alluring cities. Its unique history has inspired some of the best filmmakers globally to make some classics. Here are six Hong Kong movies that encapsulate the diverse spirit of the city in its beauty, that you should watch with your lover:

• Love In A Puff

This 2010 film is a knee-jerk script about the government ban on smoking in all indoor areas back in 2007. It explores the resulting culture of smokers congregating in the now limited smoking areas. That’s where Cherie (Miriam Yeung) and Jimmy (Shawn Yue) hit it off and fall in love. The dialogue is full of slang used by smokers in this city and can strike a strong chord of affinity. The cinematography is beautiful and the film is so accomplished it set a new benchmark for Hong Kong romantic comedies.

• Love For All Seasons

This 2003 film is a Johnnie To movie starring Sammi Cheng. She plays May, a kung-fu master of fabled celibate spinsterhood residing on Emei Mountain. Striving to reach a seemingly unobtainable level of martial arts mastery that requires her to have her heartbroken, May seeks the help of famous womanizer Tiger Hung (Louis Koo). What’s funny about this romance movie is how it pokes fun at conservative attitudes that are very much alive in Hong Kong today and the ways that anyone determined to eliminate those cultural barriers can do so in a heartbeat.

• My Left Eye Sees Ghosts

This 2002 movie is one of Sammi Cheng’s long collection of romcoms from the early 2000s. It has a lot of that slapstick comedy that’s a trademark of Hong Kong films. May Ho (Cheng) has a car accident leaving her with the ability to see ghosts with her – you guessed it – left eye and Sean Lau (Ken Wong) is the adorable ghost of her deceased primary school classmate. What’s memorable about this one is the real estate porn of beautiful properties featured, Sammi Cheng’s fantastic wardrobe, and a plot twist guaranteed to leave you misty-eyed at the end.

• Love On A Diet

This 2001 film helps do away with the unhealthy notion that one can only find love when s/he is thin. Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng wear fat suits to play two overweight Hong Kongers thrown together in Japan. The dialogue’s relatable to anyone that’s ever struggled to stay healthy and Lau’s portrayal of a down-to-earth working-class guy is superb. The ending isn’t great but the pretty shots in the movie make up for it.

• Love Me, Love My Money

This is yet another 2001 movie. Named Best Actor at Cannes in 2000, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai’s range is evident in this one. His comic timing never misses a beat as he plays a wealthy man looking for true love. The dialogue is hilariously clever and even takes a meta jab at Taiwanese actress Shu Qi’s Mandarin accent, even though the events are all set in Hong Kong. The tone of the interactions is honest and the resulting reactions genuinely funny.

• And I Hate You So

Last but not least we have this 2000 film. The story is about a boy and girl who hate each other’s guts based on professional grounds. They get thrown together for whatever reason and wind up in love. Here, Aaron Kwok plays Cheung Yung, a masochistic shock jock, while Kelly Chen plays a stuck-up columnist, Luna Yung. What delights hearts are the beautiful shots of well-heeled parts of Hong Kong such as Causeway Bay and SoHo. That and the comic relief provided by Teresa Mo’s antique shop owner, whose character almost steals the show in a subplot with Eric Tsang.

Conclusion

Watching a nice romantic movie with your partner is ideal for couples at all stages of the relationship. It’s a chance to woo your new partner and create lasting memories together. It helps strengthen the bond/marriage with your long-term partner and helps you grow closer. If you’re looking to create a shared social experience that improves intimacy and communication, you ought to watch any one of the six movies we listed above on Qixi Day.