LAO

• A figure that ties together these other holidays is the Old Man Under the Moon – Yuexia Laoren in Mandarin, or Yuelao for short – who is believed to be a divine matchmaker.
• Under these conditions, unmarried girls would pray to the Old Man Under the Moon for a happy marriage.
• Girls could either make offerings at home or visit a temple where an image of the Old Man Under the Moon was enshrined.
• But the Old Man Under the Moon is the most popular god of love and marriage.

The Old Man Under the Moon

The Old Man Under the Moon was first mentioned in a ninth-century short story called “Engagement Inn,” where he arranged marriages as a divine official.

• Wei Gu then asked about his own prospects, to which the old man replied that Wei Gu would get married, but it would take 14 years.
• In the centuries that followed, the Old Man Under the Moon became an increasingly popular figure in Chinese literature, drama and religion.
• People looking to find a partner often leave red strings tied to tree branches, sometimes with short prayer texts attached to the strings, outside shrines to Old Man Under the Moon.

Heavenly romance

• In Chinese culture, the most important holiday for romance is the Double Seventh Festival, which appropriately falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.
• Unmarried girls make offerings to the Weaving Maiden in hopes of finding a good husband, in addition to saying prayers to Old Man.
• The Moon Festival is seen as the birthday of the Old Man Under the Moon, so temples sometimes have special events in his honor.
• The moon represents both wholeness and romance, making it a fitting symbol for the divine matchmaker.

The Rabbit God

• Apart from the Old Man Under the Moon, another divine matchmaker in Chinese mythology is the Rabbit God, who has been worshiped as far back as the 18th century as a god of love between men.
• The Rabbit God binds same-sex couples, just as the Old Man Under the Moon binds couples of the opposite sex.
• Same-sex couples in Taiwan can visit Wei Ming Tang temple, which is dedicated to the Rabbit God, to seek lasting romantic love and marriage.

Megan Bryson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Malaythong Kommasith, Minister of Industry and Commerce, to discuss the productivity challenges and opportunities facing Lao PDR and the APO’s support for its national productivity strategy.
• Minister Kommasith emphasized the importance of ensuring broad, direct impacts of productivity improvement efforts on the country’s competitiveness.
• Secretary-General Dr. Indra congratulated Lao PDR for its remarkable progress in improving its productivity performance since it joined the APO in 2002, achieving the fastest labor productivity growth among member countries during 2011–17.
• The APO Secretary-General reiterated the APO’s commitment to working with Lao PDR in its productivity endeavors by providing policy advisory services, capacity-building programs, smart initiatives, and knowledge-sharing platforms.

• Xi said this not only brings great benefits to the people of the two countries, but also provides a model for the building of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and promoting the building of a human community with a shared future.
• In April 2019, China and Laos signed an action plan to jointly build a community with a shared future.
• Nowadays, China has become the second-largest trading partner and the country with the largest foreign direct investment in Laos.
• Thongloun said that under the complex changes the world is experiencing, China is the mainstay of maintaining world peace and stability and is committed to promoting common development and building a community with a shared future.

• Once completed, it will be the largest wind farm in ASEAN as well as region's first cross-border wind energy project.
• The wind farm will be located in the Sekong and Attapeu provinces in Southern Lao PDR.
• Envision plans to supply 133 units of EN-171 wind turbines with a power rating of 4.51 MW.
• Envision designs, sells, and operates smart wind turbines and smart storage system through Envision Energy; AIoT-powered batteries through Envision AESC; and the world's largest AIoT operating system through Envision Digital.