February 14 is Valentine's Day, a festival recognized the world over by lovers. Recent years have seen more and more young Chinese begin to celebrate this festival and more people begin to reassess their love and marriage through this romantic occasion.

Apart from flowers, chocolate and candlelit dinners, getting married on Valentine's Day has also become a special way to celebrate this festival. Statistics from marriage registration departments all over the country show record numbers of marriage registrations on the past February 14. Beijing saw 2,689 new couples registered, an increase of 2,000 over the year earlier period. The number in Shanghai was 2,662, an increase of one third compared with the previous Valentine's Day.

Family has always been the most important thing in the heart of Chinese people. As an old Chinese saying goes, "All shall be well, and Jack shall have Jill." For the Chinese, marriage should be the most perfect love and the best marriage is the kind that connects the couple till they die.

Three decades of reform and opening up have changed many Chinese people's concept of love and marriage. The nation's tradition demands that young people listen to their parents and matchmakers in choosing their future spouses, but nowadays people increasingly tend to choose their partners for themselves. DINK (double income, no kids) families, divorce, remarriage and even cohabitation are no longer strange and easily accepted. The rapid technological development also enriches ways people can choose to find their other half. Online dating is now another option and more people get married through Internet romance.

Although people enjoy the right to choose whatever lifestyles they like, marriage and family are still the preferred choice of most Chinese. In many places around the country, parents still feel worried for their single children who have reached marriage age. As a result, these parents turn to matchmaking fairs on behalf of their children on the Valentine's Day. In Nanning, capital city of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a large matchmaking fair on February 14 attracted more than 10,000 people, mostly parents who were eager to find suitable partners for their children.

On the other hand, rapid economic growth in recent years further opened the minds of Chinese and as a result, families are no longer as stable as they used to be. According to media reports, apart from flower and chocolate sellers, private detectives also made a good profit on the Valentine's Day. This is an emerging business in China. Some people do not worry about how much they needed to pay the detectives. All they want to know is if their partners are cheating on them with someone else. It seems that even on the day of love, there is doubt and relationships still need strong ties to keep them stable.