Shangsi Festival: China's Forgotten Valentine's Day on the Double Third

Before there was Qixi, before there was Valentine’s Day, there was Shangsi Festival (上巳节) — the Double Third Festival, ancient China’s original day of romance, celebrated on the third day of the third lunar month.

Purification by Water

Shangsi began as a solemn purification ritual. In the Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 BCE), people gathered at rivers to wash away the accumulated impurities of winter. The ceremony was called fu xi (祓禊) — a ritual bathing believed to cleanse both body and spirit.

The most famous account appears in the calligrapher Wang Xizhi’s Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion (兰亭集序). In 353 CE, Wang and 41 scholars gathered at the Orchid Pavilion in Shaoxing for the Shangsi ceremony. They floated wine cups down a winding stream — whoever’s cup stopped in front of them had to drink and compose a poem. This “floating cup” game (qushui liushang, 曲水流觞) became the festival’s most iconic tradition.

A Day for Lovers

While Qixi is now called China’s Valentine’s Day, Shangsi was the original. After the formal purification, the atmosphere shifted to celebration. Young men and women socialized freely — an unusual liberty in ancient Chinese society. Poetry, music, and flirtation filled the riverside.

The Book of Songs (诗经), China’s oldest poetry collection (11th–7th century BCE), describes Shangsi scenes of young people exchanging flowers and pledges by the water. It was the one day a year when social restrictions on courtship relaxed.

The Floating Wine Cup

The qushui liushang tradition remains Shangsi’s most elegant legacy. Participants sit along a winding stream, place a wine-filled cup on a leaf or wooden vessel, and let the current carry it downstream. Where the cup stops, that person drinks and recites verse.

Modern revivals of this tradition have appeared in cultural parks across China, often paired with hanfu gatherings and tea ceremonies. A portable tea set is the perfect companion for recreating this ancient waterside ritual.

Why Shangsi Faded

Shangsi gradually lost prominence after the Song Dynasty. Several factors contributed: the rise of Qixi as the primary romance festival, the Neo-Confucian emphasis on social order (which discouraged the festival’s free courtship), and the fact that its lunar date shifted annually.

Today, ethnic minorities like the Zhuang and She peoples preserve vibrant Shangsi traditions with singing festivals and matchmaking events. In mainstream Chinese culture, the festival is experiencing a quiet revival through hanfu communities and cultural heritage enthusiasts who recognize it as China’s oldest spring celebration of love and renewal.