Romance - and recession - in the air
After agonizing for weeks over what to give his girlfriend this Valentine's Day, Beijinger Li Mingyu, 27, decided on the "perfect present for the season" - a personalized notebook carrying all 99 cell phone text messages he exchanged with his 26-year-old partner Wang Min over the last year, topped with a nice meal at home to share their "sweet memories".
"I am sure this is going to be a different, less costly present for Wang, compared with the pricey flowers I spent 800 yuan ($117) on last year," the consultant at a Beijing-based management consultancy company told China Daily on Friday.
From home-cooked meals to rock-bottom bouquet deals, many young Chinese like Li and retailers in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are celebrating this year's Valentine's Day with tightened belts and purse strings amid the global financial crisis.
