A Chinese couple kiss as passers-by watch during a kissing contest in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei Province, August 11, 2005.

The competition is held to celebrate the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, known as the Chinese "Valentine's Day", on Thursday.

According to a 2,000-year-old Chinese legend, a cowherd and a weaver maid fell in love with each other, but were split by the Queen of Heaven. The couple can only meet once a year on a bridge of magpies across the Milky Way on the evening of the day.