Traditional Han wedding held at Dujiangyan Wenmiao Temple

A Han wedding ceremony was held at Wenmiao Temple, Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, during the Qixi Festival, or Chinese Valentine's Day, which fell on August 13 this year.

Visitors showed much interest as the bride and bridegroom, who wore Hanfu - or Han Chinese - clothing, got married to the sound of drums.

The bride, Cao Lingxiu, said the wedding ceremony was both "sacred and sweet".

The traditional Han wedding ceremony dates back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC), and includes the rites of Woguan (washing hands with flowing water), Tonglao (eating one piece of meat), Hejin (drinking cross-cupped wine), Baitang (worship of heaven and earth) and Jiefa (knotting the hair up). The ceremony is viewed as a quintessential Chinese rite.

Wenmiao temple, also known as Confucius Temple, is located in Dujiangyan, a city that is famous for its ancient irrigation system. The temple also offers classes in traditional Chinese studies and aims to restore six kinds of traditional classical arts – archery, rituals, music, horse-riding, calligraphy and mathematics –and to promote the study of ancient Chinese culture.