Senior citizens in east China’s Jiangsu province gathered in celebration of the Double Ninth Festival which falls on the ninth day of the ninth month on the lunar calendar.
51 senior couplets in Tangshan town of Jiangning district, Nanjing city, were organized to celebrate their golden wedding against the great sunshine as they were led through the rose arch where some young people and armed police officers gave them a calligraphy piece inscribed with the Chinese character shou which stands for longevity.
92 veterans of the anti-Japanese war traveled from across the country for a gathering in Nanjing to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival which is also called the Senior’s Day in China. The veterans vary in age from 106 to 91.
Ten Nanjing Massacre survivors gathered in Nanjing to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival or otherwise known as the Chongyang Festival. The 10 people each aged around 90 years old visited tourist attractions with their families. The year 2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, in which more than 300,000 Chinese were brutally murdered by Japanese invaders when they occupied Nanjing on Dec 13, 1937, marking the start of six weeks of destruction, pillage, rape and slaughter in Nanjing. There are only 100 living survivors of the atrocity.
Chrysan the mum appreciation is the traditional custom for the Double Ninth Festival. The ninth National Chrysanthemum Exhibition kicked off in Hushu town of Nanjing on Sunday. The blooming chrysanthemum in more than 3,000 varieties flowers over 400 mu attracted many visitors and many of them were escorting their parents on the tour.
A variety of activities were organized in Wuxi, Siyang, Jurong and Taizhou to entertain the senior citizens on the special day.
The Double Ninth Festival, also named Chong Yang Festival, falls on the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, hence it gets name of Double Ninth Festival. On this day, people would like to drink chrysanthemum wine and have chrysanthemum cakes. Since "nine" is the highest odd digit, people take two of them together to signify longevity. Therefore, the ninth day of the ninth month has become a special day for people to pay their respects to the elderly and a day for the elderly to enjoy themselves. It has also been declared China's Day for the Elderly.
