However, people are becoming tired of overcrowded trains and long-distance coaches during these chaotic enforced holidays, and now find there is little relation to real relaxation and Chinese culture.

"Traditional festivals are a great national culture legacy that connects all Chinese people, so we should pass on them actively rather than ignore them," said Xiao Fang, a professor at Beijing Normal University.

In the face of the ongoing battle between tradition and Western influence, next year's Qixi is going to get an instant promotional injection, as it falls on the day before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. Romantics the world over might just be celebrating Valentine's twice in 2008. One in the way they are used to, and one Chinese style. The global attention for Qixi might be just what the doctor ordered.

Chinese Festivals - Spring Festival, also known as Chinese lunar New Year, is the country's most important cultural holiday. - Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the first lunar month, is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns on parade. - Tomb-Sweeping Day, which falls on April 5 every year, is a special day to worship ancestors and visit family graves. l Dragon Boat Festival, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, is one of the oldest festivals of the Chinese nation with over 2,000 years of history. One traditional view says that the festival memorializes poet Qu Yuan (340-278 B.C.) of the Warring States Period. Qu committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River after the fall of his country, Chu State, one of the seven powerful states at that time, under the invasion of the Qin State, the most powerful of the seven. At the news of his suicide, local people, who held him in high reverence for his integrity and nobleness, rushed to rescue him by boat. But, they failed even to find his body. So they dropped rice balls into the river to feed fish so they would not eat his body. In memory of this great poet, people made it a custom that on the day of his death, the fifth day of every fifth lunar month, dragon boat racing would be held and people should eat zongzi, glutinous rice balls wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. - Mid-Autumn Festival takes place in the middle of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. The round shape of the moon symbolizes family reunion. The day is a holiday for family members to get together under the full moon-an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. Round moon cakes are a special treat for the festival. - Double-Ninth Festival, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, has significance because nine is the highest odd digit, and two nines together will signify longevity. Therefore, the ninth day of the ninth month has become a special day for people to pay their respect to the elderly and a day for the elderly to enjoy themselves. It is also know as the Elders' Day of China.