Painted silk fan from online store Mio's Workshop.

Culture Insider: Qixi - the Chinese Valentine's Day

Love tokens preferred by ancient Chinese

Handicrafts welcome Qixi Festival

The poem Red Bean was translated by W. J. Fletcher in 1918

The red bean grows in southern lands,

With spring its slender tendrils twine,

Gather for me some more, I pray,

Of fond remembrance 'tis the sign.

Peaches, papayas, peppers and poultry

We are not joking. The most ancient poems in China, the Odes, or shi jing, have recorded all these items as tokens of love.

"You sent me peaches, and I rewarded you with jade. This is not courtesy, but my assertion of eternal sincerity and fidelity", as one of the lines goes, loosely translated.

So if you have the heart, but not the wallet, send her some peaches, papayas, peppers or poultry and a copy of the poem to speak of your undying love. She may be more impressed than you know.

For Gentlemen

Handkerchief

Cotton pocket from Shanghai Tang.

The handkerchief as a love token is not exclusively Chinese. William Shakespeare made it the object of affection between Othello and Desdemona in Othello - the square of cloth "spotted with strawberries".

And while The Bard immortalized the hanky, the New York Times mourned it as a manufactured square of cotton that "so nimbly provides health care, fashion, sports, religion and patriotic usage", and yet fell "victim to technological, social and medical progress".

There is one more persuasion. It may be the only fashion item your hopelessly unfashionable boyfriend is actually willing to wear, especially when you are moved to tears and he needs something to wipe them off.

Contact the writer at xujunqian@chinadaily.com.cn.