HEART TO HEART: A young couple in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, stamp the shape of hearts in the snow on Valentine's Day (CFP)

It is not clear when Chinese couples started celebrating Valentine's Day, but it has now firmly established itself as an important day around the Spring Festival, China's lunar New Year. On February 14, 2009, the cold wind couldn't chill the hearts of lovers in Beijing. The chocolates, roses and special advertisements in windows indicated that this was a special day for love.

Planning the perfect day

Executing the perfect Valentine's Day requires advance planning. "It has been a headache for me to design a plan for this day," said Xie Fengxiong, a college student from Renmin University of China, "Every year I try to plan something different, but we always end up going to dinner and a movie, which is kind of boring."

Xie was not the only one racking his brain-businessmen think even harder. Businessmen regard Valentine's Day as the first big consumer event. Love is blind, and so are the romantics when they open their wallets. Knowing this, stores raise their prices for Valentine's Day-related items in the days leading up to the holiday. Take roses, for example. The price of one rose on Valentine's Day is at least 10 yuan ($1.4), three or four times higher than normal. So for many college students in relationships, Valentine's Day is an expensive undertaking for which they have to save money. But restaurants, bars and shopping malls are ready with promotions to help them get the best value possible.

Cinemas and theaters also prepare movies and plays for Valentine's Day. A play called Rhinoceros in Love has been running at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing since February 12. This mini-theater play has been performed continuously since its debut 10 years ago. It is regarded as a must-see play for young lovers. "I watched this play with my boyfriend for the first time last year, that was a great night. We came here again to celebrate the sweet year we've had together," said Ma Xiaoyu, a college student who attended the play on Valentine's Day. Tickets for the play on the special day, ranging from 80 yuan ($11.8) to 580 yuan ($85.3), sold out early this month. The same crowds hit almost all the large cinemas as well. People had to wait in long queues for an hour to purchase tickets.

This year there were also some activities just for fun or for public welfare. A special group of more than 20 photographers roamed popular shopping malls and scenic spots around Beijing, trying to capture romantic moments. Organizer Luo Liwu is from a photographic studio-Ilife Studio. "At the beginning, I just wanted to do something that had never been done by others, and I wanted to make all the pictures of the couples into a big board for exhibition," Luo said. But the response he received in the shopping malls was beyond what he could have imagined. "The couples even queued to take photos, they were very supportive and they were very natural showing their affection in front of the camera," Luo said. "That was the most touching aspect of this activity."

Valentine's vows

Valentine's Day is also regarded as a good day for marriage. The Civil Affairs Bureau in every Beijing district was packed with couples registering to get married. In order to be the first to register, one couple even spent the whole night waiting in a park near the Civil Affairs Bureau of Haidian District.

Altogether 2,689 couples registered to get married in Beijing on February 14. "The number is even higher than on August 8, 2008, the opening day of the Beijing Olympics, and increased by almost 2,000 compared with Valentine's Day last year," said Li Ziwei, Director of the Marriage Registration Office of the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, on February 15.

Some scholars are concerned that encroaching Western festivals will lead to waning interest in traditional Chinese festivals. China has its own "Valentine's Day" on lunar July 7. It comes from an ancient Chinese fairytale about a fairy girl and a cowboy, who can only meet once every year on lunar July 7.