The “Liangyuan Qixi, Walk at Leisure” (良缘七夕·且徐行) ancient-style gathering will open on August 15, 2026 beneath the Swallow Pavilion in Xuzhou’s Yunlong Park, the city’s Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau announced on its official WeChat account, with registration now open for Hanfu enthusiasts and on-site NPC performers. The series name “Qie Xuxing,” drawn from the Song-dynasty poet Su Shi’s line about walking at ease through wind and rain, sets the tone for an unhurried garden outing across the lakefront grounds of Yunlong Park, one of Xuzhou’s best-loved public parks. Following this spring’s “Qie Xuxing” Flower Festival event, the summer Qixi edition — built around the theme “spring brings the Flower Festival, summer the Qixi Festival” — arrives fully upgraded: a bigger lineup, more activities and deeper immersion.
On the day of the event, a hundred Hanfu enthusiasts will assemble in the square before the Swallow Pavilion and enter the waterside main venue together, a processional impressive on its own. The market extends from land onto water: a Qixi-themed guofeng market lines the waterfront, joined by a first-ever floating lotus-flower market, so that browsing stalls can continue from the shore onto the lake — a garden-party novelty that organizers say pushes the immersion of an ancient-style stroll to a new level. Beneath the thousand-year-old Swallow Pavilion, a landmark of Xuzhou, upturned eaves frame the scene and the ancient tower itself becomes the stage: classic love arias of the city’s local Liuqin opera will ring out, regional theater meeting a storied tower, the air thick with elegance.
No less anticipated is the orthodox dual Qixi ritual. Following Han-dynasty ceremony, women perform the qiqiao rite — traditionally threading needles under the moonlight to pray for the nimble hands of the Weaver Maid — while men pray for good fortune, presenting both layers of Qixi’s cultural meaning in a single ceremony. The Hanfu parade is also reinvented: no longer confined to land, flower boats will line up and cruise a fixed route across the inner lake, so the park’s scenery unfolds from the water as the procession moves and spectators can follow the boats along the shore. The organizers say that whether you are a devotee of traditional culture or a curious first-time participant, the poetry beneath the Swallow Pavilion awaits your part in writing it.
Recruitment for on-site NPC roles at the “Liangyuan Qixi, Walk at Leisure” gathering is now open to Hanfu enthusiasts, who will join in costumed character roles — merchants, storytellers and festival attendants — to help complete this thousand-year garden scroll scene by scene. The event marks the second chapter of Xuzhou’s “Qie Xuxing” series this year, building directly on the scale and atmosphere of the spring Flower Festival edition, and the bureau’s announcement frames it as a midsummer stage for the city’s ancient-style community. On August 15, beneath the Swallow Pavilion in Yunlong Park, the gates are open for all to share the scene.