Hello beautiful people, and welcome back on the route!🙂

Today our journey through the curiosities around the world brings us to…China!

China is a country I had the luck of traveling in 2018 and that, since then, it always fascinated me at the point that I started learning Chinese two years ago and I am planning a three months trip next spring too! 🙂

The cultural tapestry of China is just so rich, variegated and abnormous: futuristic skylines that hide temples and stories of ancient dynasties, high-speed trains, giant cities and tiny restaurants which serve incredible spicy food, crowded markets, legends, a country moving at full speed into the future and so, SO many intricate, yet surprising traditions! 🙂

Today, I will share with you 7 curious fun facts about Chinese love and relationships I have been learning in China and on my Chinese learning journey which really moved my curiosity (and I believe they will move your too! 🙂

Let’s dive right in! 🙂

7 Fun Facts about

Love and Relationships in China! 🙂

1) China Has Its Own Valentine’s Day…

and It Is Over 2,000 Years Old

In most Western countries, as you probably know, Valentine’s Day is 14th of February.

Personally, I thought it was an international world-wide date, but first time I traveled to China, my belief proved wrong! 🙂

In fact, China has its own traditional lovers’ celebration called the “Qixi Festival” (often described as Chinese Valentine’s Day), which is celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar (the precise date, in the Gregorian Calendar, changes every year but falls roughly ever year in August!).

The roots of this festival are much older and more meaningful than is is Valentine’s Day in the western world (just for you to know: S.Valentine originated around 300AC as a Christian celebration in honor of St.Valentine, a bishop who was executed on 14th February because he was celebrating secret marriages).

“Qixi” comes from the legendary story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

As the tale goes, those were two lovers separated by the heavens which were allowed to reunite only once a year when magpies formed a bridge across the Milky Way so they could meet for one precious night 🙂

If you ask me, I found this story pretty moving and enchanting 🙂

On Qixi festival day, in ancient times, young women prayed for skill, wisdom, and good marriages; while today couples tend to celebrate with dinners, flowers, jewelry, proposals, and travel getaways (a bit like what we do on Valentine’s) 🙂

2. Singles’ Day (11/11) Became Bigger Than Valentine’s Day (and looks like our Black Friday!)

Now let’s move from ancient romance to modern Chinese marketing genius!

If you’ll happen to travel in China in November, you might get ther chance to experience one of the most unusual relationship-themed dates in the world: Singles’ Day, celebrated on 11/11!

The four “number ones” symbolize four single people standing alone.

The holiday reportedly began in the 1990s among university students as a playful answer to couple culture: if Valentine’s Day / Qixi Festival celebrate relationships, why shouldn’t single people celebrate themselves?

Excellent point, and funny story…until large retail online platforms thought of transforming this date into an economic monster, leveraging the growing purchasing power of the Chinese middle-class 🙂

In fact, “Singles’ Day” evolved in the past decade into the largest shopping event on the planet, generating enormous sales figures that at times surpassed Western’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined!

For many young Chinese consumers, 11/11 became a day for self-gifting, discounts, parties, ironic memes, and occasionally meeting someone new. Chinese platforms like Alibaba, Taobao and many others, on that day launch the most interesting offers of the year and it’s a mad rush!

3. In Some Parks, Old Parents

Look for Partners for Their Busy Children

This is one of those facts that sounds invented until you actually see it: retired parents in the park “campaigning” and “sponsoring” their grown-up children’s personal portfolio to find them parters!

Yes, you might be wondering what did you just read?!! 

Let me explaining better! XD

In large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, certain public parks became famous for marriage markets, where parents gather carrying profiles of their adult children!

These sheets often list age, height, education, salary (Chinese people don’t have problems talking about how much they earn, it’s a normal question!), hometown, job, and whether the person owns an apartment (you know…for having a place to consume the “marriage”).

Now, as a westerner, imagining my mother handling my dating profile in a park on a Sunday morning would give me instant gooseflesh…arrrrgh! 😱

And indeed, you might think how intrusive that sounds!

Yet culturally speaking, marriage in China has often been viewed as something involving families, not just a pact betwen two individuals.

Old-minded parents may worry about stability, long-term security (Chinese culture in general is oriented toward the long-term!), grandchildren, or simply whether their son or daughter is happy. Sometimes young adults are so busy working that they don’t have time to date anyone, and so parents come “weirdly” into play xD

Housing prices in major Chinese cities can be extremely high, so practical matters sometimes enter relationship discussions too, much earlier than in other countries!

Love may still be emotional, but realism in China is not excluded from the conversation.

PS. If you walk in one of those parks as a westerner, you’ll likely receive so many questions too (as I did! – even if at that time I could barely talk Chinese eheh).

Here you can find a video from BBC about a Parent’s Match-Making Event in Chengdu xD

4. In China,

Numbers Can Say “I Love You” 🙂

China has one of the most creative digital love languages anywhere, and the symbology is born right into how the Chinese language works (which I find deeply fascinating!).

In Chinese different words might sound exactly the same when pronounced, and tones and context are important to understand words’ meaning in spoken every day life.

This peculiarity of Chinese language gives way to much of how Chinese jokes work (exchanging a word with the same sound and different meaning into a completely different context!) and the secret messages of numbers!

Because many Chinese phrases and numbers can sound similar when spoken in fact, numbers often can carry emotional meanings!

The undiscussed superstar of romantic numerology is surely “520″ (pronounced wu ar ling) in a way that resembles “I love you” (wo ai ni).

As a result, May 20th (5/20) became an unofficial modern love holiday when people confess feelings, send gifts, propose, or flood chats with heart emojis 🙂

Another famous number is 1314, associated with “a lifetime” or “forever.” Put them together — 5201314 — and you get something close to “I love you forever.” 😉

In the table above, you can find out more about other hidden number messages, and why 250 is not such a nice number to give anybody in China 😉

5. Pear, Clocks and Knives are off-limit as gifts,

while red gifts and fruit are mostly welcomed!

6) Many people still believe that Chinese Zodiac Compatibility Still Influences Some Relationships!

China’s zodiac system is not only a decoration you see on restaurant placemats: it permeates completely Chinese society and traditions, even today (much more than our western zodiac!).

The traditional Chinese Zodiac follows a 12-year cycle with animals such as: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

So, unlike in the western world where every zodiac sign has its own “month” of the year, in the Chinese zodiac, every animal has its own “lunar year” which comes only once every 12 years!

Those 12 animals derive from an ancient fairy-tail that narrates how the “Jade Emperor” put those 12 animals to a race, and the order they arrived at the finish line is their order in the calendar 🙂

Many people nowadays treat the zodiac signs lightly (like it happens with youngster in the west too!), but others still consider zodiac compatibility a serious matter when discussing relationships or marriage!

A Dragon may be seen differently (and mostly preferred) compared to a Rabbit or a Snake (that is why in China, during “dragon” years, newborn babies are tendentially more than in any other year!).

Is this zodiac thing somewhat scientific? Of course not.

Yet, it remains culturally influential as Chinese, like every other human, somehow love to turn mistery into patterns 😉

7. Romance in China Often Includes Beautiful Trips and Cinematic Photo Shoots

Modern Chinese love culture (like many other faces of Chinese culture nowadays) is highly visual!

Many couples celebrate relationships through travel, especially to scenic destinations such as West Lake, Sanya, Dali, Lijiang, or mountain and water towns known for their atmosphere and beauty.

Probably it happened to you seeing groups of Chinese assaulting landmarks around the world taking photos over photos over photos…well…they do the same in China too!

Social sharing and “showing-off” are in my opinion even more accentuated among Chinese than in the west, despite the traditional Chinese culture commanding for a more “no stand-out” attitude.

Weekend escapes, proposal trips, and anniversary travel are increasingly popular among younger couples with rising incomes, and that sounds entirely normal: traveling is the most beautiful thing in the world after all! 🙂

Said that, in China there also some pretty interesting phenomena such as the curious (and slightly comical) pre-wedding photo shooting industry!

What is it all about?

In brief, in China, many couples like to take elaborate wedding photos before the actual ceremony.

And here we are not talking about two quick portraits in a studio… We are talking gowns, tuxedos, castles, beaches, flower fields, European-style streets, lakes, drones, makeup teams, lighting crews, and enough wardrobe changes to rival a pop star…and more, more moooooore!! 😅😅😅

Some couples shoot multiple styles in one day: elegant, playful, traditional, dramatic, minimalist. It is partly memory-making, partly art, partly status, partly fun.

Personally, as a person who doesn’t stand standing more than 5 seconds to “build” a photo, if I had to undergo such a day, I would have only one word for it….NIGHTMARE!! XD

But of course, to everyone its own… and it’s actually pretty funny to see this couples super-serious taking pictures around landmarks, grooms sweatring heroically in formalwear in summer and photographers running around with umbrellas and smoke-machines...love requires sacrifice xP

Conclusions 🙂

And here we are at the end of this article :)

In this article we had a peek into China’s love culture and we’ve seen how zodiac signs might matter, how certain numbers are more “lovable” than others, what gifts should be avoided, we discovered how parents and families might take relationship extremely seriously, and also how lover’s day and single day are celebrated differently compared to the western world! 🙂

Before going, as always, I would like to ask you:

Which fact surprised you the most?

Would you trust your parents to choose your partner in a park? Ahah

Do symbolic gifts matter in your culture too? 🙂

And have you ever celebrated love while traveling abroad?

Let us know in the comments below! 😀

Hereafter, I will leave you a few articles that you might also be interested in checking out:

•  Italy in 10 Days – The Super-Fast Itinerary + Free Download

• Destinations of the World: Discover More Cool Destinations!

• Travel Italy: All You Need to Discover the Bel Paese!

Thank you for reading, and see you in the next article! 🙂