Happy Valentine's Day (look at meeeeeee!)

The fact that Valentine's is celebrated doesn't really come as that much of a surprise. It is, after all, a big old commercial thing, and why should Chinese people be less drawn than others to all the roses, choccie and kitsch?

What did surprise me last year, however, is how seriously people seem to take it over here- and how much of a showcasing event it is. While back at home, lovers and spouses exchange presents and go for a quiet meal, in Beijing one will see hundreds of couples prancing around shopping centres everywhere, arm in arm, the girl sporting a (preferably massive) bouquet of overprized flowers, with nowhere to really go but with their heads up in pride and each of their posture basically screaming, "Look at meeeeeeeeeeeeee!" It seems that Valentine's Day is not as much an occasion for couples to show their love over here, but rather an opportunity for men to parade their girlfriends, and vice versa.

While in early 2008, having freshly arrived in Bejing, I watched this carry-on with my mouth open, this time, having lived here for a year, it doesn't all come as that much of a surprise anynmore: For in a society where (grown-up) only children are expected to support their elderly parents and where they work fifty and more hours a week without overtime pay to fulfil their (often steep) career ambitions, love is hard to find. And people of both genders find themselves under severe pressure to get married. Women in particular, once on the wrong side of 25, can expect a healthy nagging whenever they speak to or visit their parents, other relatives, or smug married friends- "When are you getting married?", "Have you found a man yet?", "I could introduce you to someone..." Therefore, the Valentine's prancing, just like the stories about people (men and women) paying someone to bring home for Chinese New Year, and of dating web sites literally exploding with traffic around this time of year, don't all come as that much of a surprise anymore. I still find it obnoxious though, this parading.

Me and Himself, we're just going for a nice meal (he won't tell me where!) and then back to our new lovenest for a few drinks and some peace and quiet.

Happy Valentine's Day, wherever you may be and whatever you may be doing - have a good one!

Bis dann

Nadine