Young people in China aren’t spending on romance. That’s a problem

Last Updated: August 14, 2024By Chief Editor

During China’s go-go years, young couples holding enormous bouquets of roses were a familiar sight during the Qixi Festival, an ancient holiday celebrating love and loyalty.

People would flock to social media to show off brand-new iPhones and Louis Vuitton handbags gifted by their partners, as well as photos of dinners at fancy restaurants, during the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day, which typically falls in July or August each year.

That was when China’s economic growth was the envy of the world. This year’s festival was on Saturday, and it was a very different story. People went online to complain about the lack of gift giving and festive spirit, citing a sluggish economy and tough job market.

“The Qixi Festival is not as robust as previous years. It feels almost desolate,” one user wrote.

Owners of some flower shops took to Xiaohongshu, another popular platform, to bemoan the lack of customers, posting images of unsold roses lining their stores. CNN was not able to independently confirm their claims.

A red rose installation is on display at a commercial street ahead of Qixi Festival, or Chinese Valentine’s Day, on August 20, 2023 in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Huang Jinkun/VCG/Getty Images

Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said that young people, who used to be big spenders during Qixi, are struggling to find jobs.

“I think the overall sentiment is very bad and consumers are very conservative,” he said, adding that the negative sentiment has become “the overall pattern” and “not just one festival.”

The anecdotal drop in spending appears to align with the “weak-consumption trend witnessed over the past two years,” said market strategist Yeap Jun Rong from trading provider IG, adding that China’s consumer confidence is “hovering around its record low.”

How China’s lovers behave is an issue for global businesses — and the government in Beijing. In recent weeks, a number of Western multinationals, from cosmetics giant L’Oreal to carmaker Volkswagen, have sounded the alarm over weak demand in China as consumer confidence remains in the doldrums.

A government push

The lackluster mood is also affecting the Chinese government’s efforts to encourage marriage as a way of addressing falling birth rates and an aging population. A shrinking population is likely to be a drag on economic growth.

In the first half of 2024, just 3.43 million couples got married, half the number recorded for the same period 10 years ago, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

On Saturday, state broadcaster CCTV released a video featuring rare family portraits of a young Chinese leader Xi Jinping, his wife Peng Liyuan and their baby daughter to celebrate their marriage, which spanned more than three decades.

But the message failed to convince, with people complaining on social media about not being able to start a family because they owed money or have to work long work hours.

“When people born after 1990 are now in [tens of thousands of yuan of] debt, as ‘996007’ becomes the norm, where do people find the mood to date?” the Weibo user asked.

“996” and “007” refer to the notorious work hours demanded by some of China’s biggest conglomerates. The former refers to workers toiling away from 9am to 9pm, six days a week. Some are in a “007” situation, meaning they work every day.