Economy
Business beats pleasure this Chinese New Year
By Zhao Lei in Beijing and Shi Jing in Shanghai (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-15 07:36
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 A young woman picks tiger toys in an ornament market in Kaifeng, Henan province as the Lunar New Year, the Year of Tiger, approaches. [China Daily]
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Liu Zheng, who owns a flower shop in Beijing, has a dilemma. She could either lock her store on one of the most lucrative days of business and travel to her husband's hometown for a family reunion, or she could keep her store open and face the wrath of her husband and his family.
"Why did Valentine's Day have to coincide with the Chinese New Year this year?" she asked, already aware it is a coincidence that the dates overlap.
Liu's flower shop is located near Xidan commercial district, one of the busiest areas of the capital.
"I make a lot of money on Valentine's Day," she said.
"But my husband hopes we can go back to his hometown in Shandong province and be with his family. I want to stay here and keep my store open."
Liu said the final decision, however, is her daughter's to make.
The overlapping dates of Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day has forced many storeowners like Liu to choose business over family reunions.
Shopkeeper Wang, who sells stuffed toys in the capital's popular Wantong New World Shopping Mall, said he and his wife decided to keep their store open and not meet their daughter, who lives with her grandparents in another town.
"Every February, as Valentine's Day approaches, I sell at least 100 stuffed toys on a daily basis. It's not feasible to keep my store locked at the most profitable time of the year," said Wang, who refused to give his full name.
"No doubt, I will miss my daughter this Spring Festival. But I hope she can understand," he said.
According to media in Guangdong province, staff at local department stores and restaurants had started drafting promotional plans for the overlapping Spring Festival and Valentine's Day as early as last August.
A staffer at Teem Mall, a luxurious shopping center in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, said the store started planning months ago for a major singing and dancing sequence to be performed during the festival.
Meanwhile in Shanghai, there is strong demand for tiger toys and decoration pieces for the start of the Year of the Tiger.
