Chinese people celebrate Qixi festival, also known as the Chinese Valentine's Day, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, which fell on August 13 this year, and Yichang travel agency introduced various tour routes and special discounts to mark the day.

The festival is not an official holiday and most of the tour routes were designed to be short, lasting just one or two days, and within the province. The two main attractions of the routes were Chexi Folk Custom Village and Chaibuxi Grand Canyon.

From August 12 to 18, Chexi Folk Custom Village held a series of special activities and performances, combining ancient customs with sightseeing, including a lantern riddles contest, bonfire party, river lantern floating activities and worship of Yuelao, a Chinese god of love and marriage.

Chaibuxi Grand Canyon offered free entrance tickets to 20 couples who agreed to share their love stories and, on August 10 and 11, couples had the opportunity to book discount tours.

Edited by Niva Whyman and Le Qin