The Qixi Festival (七夕節(jié)), also known as Chinese Valentine's Day, or Double Seventh Festival, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

It marks the annual reunion of cowherd Niulang and Zhinü, the goddess of weaving – whose romance is the subject of a traditional Chinese folk tale calledThe Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, dating back more than 2,000 years to the Han Dynasty.

The cowherd and the weaver girl fell in love at first sight, got married happily, and had two children, a boy and a girl. However, when Zhinü's mother found her daughter had secretly married a mortal man she was furious and ordered Zhinü back to heaven. She then created a huge river, which we recognise as the Milky Way, to divide heaven and earth and separate the couple.

The tale has a happy ending as magpies, touched by the romance, decided to flock together to create a bridge and reunite the lovers. They do this once every year.

The couple are one of the greatest symbols of romance found in Chinese folklore, and many Chinese poets have written poems recounting the story.

Therefore, CGTN Europe is marking the day with two celebrated love poems that cross cultures: one was penning in the Song Dynasty by Qin Guan, and the other by Scottish poet Robert Burns.

Immortal at the Magpie Bridge
Read by Jamie Owen
By Qin Guan 秦觀
Translated by Xu Yuanchong 許淵沖

Clouds float like works of art
纖云弄巧
Stars shoot with grief at heart
飛星傳恨
Across the Milky Way the Cowherd meets the Maid
銀漢迢迢暗度
When autumn's Golden Wind embraces Dew of Jade
金風(fēng)玉露一相逢
All the love scenes on earth, however many, fade
便勝卻人間無數(shù)
Their tender love flows like a stream
柔情似水
This happy date seems but a dream
佳期如夢
Can they bear a separate homeward way?
忍顧鵲橋歸路
If love between both sides can last for aye
兩情若是久長時
Why need they stay together night and day?
又豈在朝朝暮暮

A Red, Red Rose 我的愛人像朵紅紅的玫瑰
By Robert Burns 羅伯特·彭斯
Read by Li Jianhua 李建華
Translated by Wang Zuoliang 王佐良

O my Luve is like a red, red rose
呵，我的愛人像朵紅紅的玫瑰
That's newly sprung in June
六月里迎風(fēng)初開
O my Luve is like the melody
呵，我的愛人像支甜甜的曲子
That's sweetly played in tune
奏得合拍又和諧

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass
我的好姑娘，多么美麗的人兒
So deep in luve am I
請看我，多么深摯的愛情
And I will luve thee still, my dear
親愛的，我永遠(yuǎn)愛你
Till a' the seas gang dry
縱使大海干涸水流盡

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear
縱使大海干涸水流盡
And the rocks melt wi' the sun
太陽將巖石燒作灰塵
I will luve thee still, my dear
親愛的，我永遠(yuǎn)愛你
While the sands o' life shall run
只要我一息猶存

And fare thee weel, my only luve
珍重吧，我唯一的愛人
And fare thee weel awhile
珍重吧，讓我們暫時別離
And I will come again, my luve
但我定要回來
Though it were ten thousand mile.
哪怕千里萬里