Valentines Day in China

In China, Valentine’s Day is Increasingly for Lovers

Feng shui masters, traditional lunar almanacs, lucky numbers like “8″ and Chinese holidays like the mid-autumn festival have long helped Chinese people decide when to tie the knot.

The state-run Xinhua news agency reports that a marriage boom is expected on Feb. 14, saying young couples are choosing the “western lovers’ day” to get hitched.

China has long had a day devoted to love: the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, usually in August on the Gregorian calendar. Though that’s still a popular day for unions, the Chinese also are increasingly embracing western practices, like celebrating Valentine’s Day. Until recently, the Chinese didn’t care much for Christmas. But Dec. 24 and 25 are now some of the busiest days for restaurants and nightclubs.

Xinhua says registration centers in Beijing are gearing up for the increased numbers on Saturday. If the almanac had guided the lovebirds, Feb. 15 would have been the lucky day to get hitched this month, followed by Feb. 16 as second best. Feb. 14 isn’t even recommended — indeed “4″ is often considered an unlucky number in China because its pronunciation in mandarin Chinese sounds like “die.”

How couples marry has changed tremendously in China. In ancient times, matchmakers held sway over who should marry whom. They were so powerful in determining unions even poor families hired them. The practice became more convoluted in the early communist years: local party leaders and work units approved marriages, couples underwent premarital health checks to qualify for marriage, and the government issued certificates validating that the would-be spouses were indeed single.

Though Chinese employers are often still expected to sign off on unions, Chinese couples today have a lot more freedom to choose and a lot less paperwork to fill out. And some have decided the old ways are too fussy –- feng shui analysis takes a lot of work — and have gone for the simple and obvious, like getting hitched on Feb. 14.

– Jason Leow


http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2009/02/13/in-china-valentines-day-is-increasingly-for-lovers/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_Xi

http://www.everythingvalentinesday.com/chinese-valentines-day.html