BEIJING - As Christmas, solar and lunar new year come one after another, China's young people are racking their brains to select and buy appropriate gifts for their friends, relatives and other important people.

The 30-year-old Zhao Xiaojuan wished she could sleep through the Christmas Eve. However, she had to socialize with her clients, inviting them to watch Chinese pop duet Yu Quan's concert.

For the past three consecutive days, she did spa with business partners and bought them top cosmetics brands.

"I was supposed to relax on holidays, but I feel more stressful than working at office," said Zhao, a manager at a private investment company.

Zhao is not alone. More than 40,000 netizens posted on China's twitter-like microblogging site Weibo.com for the past two days, discussing gift-giving. Many young people complained about going bankrupt as they spent too much on holiday gifts.

"I'll have to eat instant noodles for the whole month to save money," said a young employee at a foreign company surnamed Zhou.

Zhou said he had spent more than two months' salary buying gifts.

Some say they give gifts amid fears that they might lose promotion opportunities and business partners if no gifts are given.

I have to give gifts to show respect and gratitude to my clients, because my colleagues all do so, said Gao Ping, a fresh college graduate who is working at a small southern city.

Zhai Xuewei, head of the psychology department at Nanjing University, said people give holiday gifts to friends and other people to gain a sense of security.

Some say they are under heavier financial burden as they now celebrate Christmas, Valentine's Day and other non-traditional holidays.

Zhou said he bought his girlfriend a necklace for Valentine's Day, and a mobile phone for Christmas this year. "I could save 10,000 yuan ($1,584) if we don't celebrate foreign holidays," said Zhou.

Some wish people will not equate affection with money.

Gao Ping said she feels embarrassed each time she receives a much more expensive return gift from friends and colleagues.

"I know they want to show their affection for me. But words speak louder than money," said Gao.

Zhai Xuewei said the country's gift-giving norm is changing gradually as social mobility increases.

In the past, people had to maintain good relationship with their boss and colleagues, even if they were reluctant to do so, because they expected to work at the company for a life time, said Zhai.

However, young people nowadays do not have to be bothered by this because they have less pressure maintaining close network of acquaintances.

They have many more choices and opporutnities, he added.