As the whole world continues to grapple against the coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak, Wuhan, the place where the outbreak probably started in China has resurrected itself after recovering from the pandemic and is now celebrating life. On August 25, which is the first Qixi Festival or the Chinese Valentine's Day after the pandemic, the city came to life as people celebrated by going out of their houses after their months-long battle with the pandemic.
Huge queues of people waiting to register their marriages were witnessed outside the civil affairs bureau in Jiang'an district of Wuhan on Tuesday. An employee of the office told the Global Times that around twenty people had registered in the morning while more were expected throughout the day.
Wuhan Celebrates 'Day of Love'
Li Jing, who is a Wuhan resident, completed the marriage registration on Tuesday with her husband, whom she had been dating for eight years. "We missed the day lockdown was lifted in Wuhan on April 8, because my husband could not come back then, so we chose to do it today," Li told Global Times. She mentioned that the final push for the marriage was her boyfriend's long-distance companionship during the time of the lockdown.
"Can you imagine, a man who never managed to wake up before 10 in the morning could keep his phone on 24/7 for me when Wuhan was sealed off and I was anxious and depressed? Whether it was 7 in the morning or 3 in the afternoon, he was always there for me. That's when I made up my mind," Li added.
Kissing Competition to Celebrate Qixi Festival
On the other hand, a park in Wuhan also held a kissing competition on Tuesday as prizes were awarded to couples who were successful to kiss the longest underwater. Many people also visited entertainment venues to celebrate love. People crowded at a ferris wheel dubbed the 'Donghu Eye' that recently opened in Wuhan's tourist spot, the Donghu Lake. Having 28 capsules that can hold up to 112 people, one cycle takes around 13 minutes and 14 seconds.
As the virus outbreak continues to create grim records around the world, China reported the ninth consecutive day without any locally transmitted cases of the virus. The deadly virus outbreak that probably started in Wuhan located in the Hubei province has infected more than 89,000 in China and claimed the lives of over 4,700 people.
