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Birds of a feather

By Lin Qi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-26 09:17

Office worker Lin Xianhui is happily married to a woman who, like him, comes from the countryside but now lives in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. But he feels sorry for one of his college friends, who is having marital problems with a woman born in the city.

His depressed friend is being counseled because of his failing marriage, what many people call "phoenix man marrying a peacock woman".

The term "phoenix man" comes from an old saying that "a phoenix soars out of a chicken coop" and refers to men who grow up in the countryside, make it to university and land good jobs in the city.

"Peacock women" are born and bred in the city.

The idea of a phoenix marrying a peacock reminds many Chinese of the fairytale "niu lang zhi nu", or the "cowherd and weaving girl", which is the basis for Qixi Festival, or Chinese Valentines' Day, which falls today.

The story follows an orphaned cowboy who falls in love with a beautiful weaver, who is also the youngest daughter of the Empress of Heaven. They secretly marry but the angry empress separates the couple by drawing a line between them, which becomes the Milky Way. The couple can only get together on the seventh day of the seventh month on the lunar calendar, hence Qixi Festival.

Today, there is also a "Milky Way" separating couples from different cultural backgrounds, quite different from the way things used to be.

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