Professors and students are tapping into the nostalgia and feeling of romance that fireflies arouse to increase environmental awareness during Qixi, Chinese Valentine's Day, which falls on Saturday.

In Jiangsu province, teachers and students at Yangzhou University's School of Horticulture and Plant Protection are raising the insects for people to set free on Qixi.

"One of the reasons we keep the fireflies is to raise people's environmental awareness," said Zhu Shude, a professor at the school.