To put it simply, the ancients corresponded each constellation in the sky to the physical geographical area on the ground. There is a written record about the division of the astronomical starry sky region corresponding to the above-ground region of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, which can be found in the documents of the Han Dynasty. Geography of Hanshu: "The division of Guangdong (Yue) land, Petunia (Cowherd) and Wunu (Weaver Girl) is also divided into Cangwu, Yulin, Hepu, Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, Nanhai and Nanri." Geography of Hanshu records the geographical division of Lingnan region corresponding to the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
According to historical documents, three or four thousand years ago, with people's understanding of astronomical phenomena and the emergence of textile technology, there were records about Altair Vega. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a personalized description of the cowherd and the weaver girl: "The weaver girl should cross the river on Tanabata and make the magpie a bridge."
In ancient times, Tanabata was closely related to the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, and it was a comprehensive festival with women as the main body. Tanabata is a symbol of love because of the beautiful legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. It is considered to be the most romantic traditional festival in China, and it is also known as "Valentine's Day in China" by modern people.
On the occasion of expanding information in Song and Yuan Dynasties, Qiqiao on Qixi Festival was quite grand, and there was also a market in Beijing that monopolized Qiqiao goods, which was called Qiqiao City by the world. We can infer the lively scene of Qiqiao Festival at that time from the grand occasion of buying Qiqiao objects from Qiqiao City. People began to set up articles for begging for Qiao from the first day of July, and the market for begging for Qiao was full of traffic and people. By the time of Tanabata, the market for begging for Qiao had become an ocean of people, and it seemed as if it was the biggest festival-Spring Festival, which showed that Chinese Valentine's Day was one of the favorite festivals of the ancients.
The love story of the post-Cowherd and the Weaver Girl combines the custom of begging for cleverness, so every seventh day of the seventh lunar month, when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are at the "Magpie Bridge Meeting", the girls will come to the flowers and the moon, look up at the stars, and look for the Cowherd and the Vega on both sides of the Milky Way, hoping to see their annual meeting, begging God to be as ingenious as the Weaver Girl and praying that they can have a satisfactory and happy marriage. Over time, the custom of Chinese Valentine's Day has been formed.
On May 20th, 2006, Chinese Valentine's Day was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list by the State Council. Because of the love legend given to Cowherd and Weaver Girl by Tanabata, modern times are also considered as "Valentine's Day in China".
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Chinese Valentine's Day