Handkerchiefs from online store Liu's Handkerchief (榴手帕). Photo provided to Shanghai Star.

Culture Insider: Qixi - the Chinese Valentine's Day

Love tokens preferred by ancient Chinese

Handicrafts welcome Qixi Festival

Jade

Jade and silver earrings from Shanghai Tang

Someone jokingly said that the men most prepared for marriage are those with pierced ears because they have experienced both pain, and the joy of buying jewelry.

A diamond may be a girl's best friend, as the Hollywood song goes, but in China the key to a girl's heart is a shade of green – jade green.

Jade is highly valued in China, from the ancient times to the present day. It is more a symbol of virtue and serenity than just a mere accessory or piece of jewelry. In times past, it was so much a cult that every scholar worth his ink would wear a piece of jade on his waist. The precious stone is rich in luster and color, and was first used as a token of affection when Chinese emperors would point his jade scepter at the girl he liked while choosing his concubines. Although diamonds and gold are more dominant these days, jade continues to speak, expressing what other gems cannot say.

Fans

The silk fan once used by a lonely Chinese maid to keep cool and drive away fireflies under the silver moonlight -- as depicted by poet Du Mu over a millennium ago -- has been downgraded from a summer essential to decorative accessory. Sometimes the old ways are the best.

Gifts made using red beans

In Chinese, these little beans are known as "the beans of lovesickness." They are mentioned in ancient poems and chanted in modern-day pop songs. Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) poet Wang Wei used them as a tribute to strike up a friendship with another man. Since then, his poem about them has been widely recited by couples, which is why they have become a popular token of love.