Fan Bingbing hypes wedding dresses

It's time for the Qixi Festival the "Chinese Valentine's Day" although there is no St. Valentine in the Chinese list of non-corporeal beings--he didn't travel much after he was beheaded in Rome around 270 AD. Like the mid-February celebration in the West that it seems based on, (although Qixi predates St. Valentine being separated from his noggin by a couple of centuries) the Qixi Festival is used to sell goods and services to the romantically inclined or those who wish they were. Everyone tries to get into the act: for example the Taipei Zoo had a family reunion of mother and baby giant panda. Candy is a big seller as are stuffed animals and jewelry.

The PRC has taken official note of the commercialization of Qixi with arts and culture bureaucrats viewing with alarm loss of traditional values connected with the festival--which in itself is traditional, in China and everywhere else in the world.

Fan Bingbing and the press agents for her newly released romantic comedy "One Night Surprise" got into the act with a mega-spread in a Chinese bridal magazine. Ms. Fan and her co-star Arif Lee are the hottest screen couple since Bogart and Bacall according to the unbiased view of the hard working publicists charged with selling tickets to the movie.

Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung for 2013?

Viking princess or Qin Dynasty general?

Xinhua