mk East China's Zhejiang Province on February 7, 2025. China's 2025 Spring Festival holidays sparked a gold purchase rush among consumers, even as the price of spot gold hit a record of $2,860 per ounce on Friday. Photo: VCG" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2025/2025-02-07/3580e248-f1f6-41da-8394-15da0d086273.jpeg" />

A customer tries on gold jewelry in a shop in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on February 7, 2025. China's 2025 Spring Festival holidays sparked a gold purchase rush among consumers, even as the price of spot gold hit a record of $2,860 per ounce on Friday. Photo: VCG

As the first romantic holiday after the Spring Festival holidays, this year's Valentine's Day has seen a surge in spending on flowers and gifts, highlighting expanding consumption as the government focuses on boosting consumption growth.

In addition to traditional Valentine's items such as roses and chocolates, Chinese consumers' passion for gold has been kindled by the recent surge in gold prices, which topped $2,910 per ounce on Thursday.

Gold jewelry featuring designs of cultural significance became a refreshing new trend in this year's holiday shopping.

At Shuibei International Jewelry City in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, one of the key gold and jewelry marketplaces in the country, express delivery service providers reported a daily order surge of almost 30 percent compared with the same period last year as sales of jewelry spiked, with order volumes shooting up to 40,000 per day from 30,000 before the Spring Festival, news portal nfnews.com reported on Thursday.

A sales representative at the Chow Tai Fook store in Beijing SKP, a high-end mall, told the Global Times on Thursday that even on weekdays, the store sees a steady stream of customers, with 40-50 potential buyers served daily. The most popular items are heart-shaped engraved rings for couples and rings with themes developed in collaboration with cultural institutions.

"Gold is a tangible safe-haven asset. It not only symbolizes love but also acts as a store of value," a middle-aged civil servant surnamed Zhang told the Global Times after bagging a lotus-patterned wedding ring from a Lukfook Jewellery Beijing Shop on Thursday.

Although gold prices are high, the metal offers not only emotional significance but also a solid form of security, especially when compared with roses or chocolates, Zhang said.

At the Kunming International Flower Auction Exchange Center in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the price index of freshly cut flowers jumped to 400 points on February 11, up from 273 points before the festival, as the romantic holiday stoked demand for flowers across the country, according to the China News Service. Yunnan is one of Asia's largest flower-producing areas.

Cai Weiwei, owner of Beijing-based boutique flower shop Flowers for Love, told the Global Times on Thursday that Valentine's Day flower sales have boomed, with over 50 bouquet orders already placed, priced between 380 yuan ($52) and 980 yuan each. Red rose bouquets are the most popular item among customers.

Top rose varieties include the Floyd breed, flown in from Ecuador, Cai said.

Many brands have actively participated in Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall's luxury product sales events, capitalizing on the opportunity to attract consumers shopping for Valentine's Day gifts. 

On January 28, Italian luxury brand Gucci launched the Gucci Heart necklace, priced at 4,100 yuan, which garnered 100 percent positive customer reviews, according to its Tmall shop for the event. Other luxury brands, such as Saint Laurent from France, Tiffany & Co from the US and Versace from Italy also debuted new collections of bags, clothing and jewelry on Tmall ahead of the holiday.

Analysts highlighted the increasing popularity of these premium items as part of a growing trend of personalized and luxurious gifts for special occasions like Valentine's Day.

Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday that Chinese consumers are increasingly shifting toward culture-themed consumption, high-end consumption and smart technology and health-related consumption, judging from initial trends for this year's Valentine's Day. 

In addition, immersive travel experiences, spending that is associated with emotional value, and the importance attached to asset preservation are also observed in the behavior of young Chinese consumers, Zhang said.

Analysts said that as the country moves to foster more new consumption scenarios, consumption is poised to achieve a steady growth this year. 

During this year's eight-day Spring Festival holidays, sales of key retail and catering enterprises grew by 4.1 percent year-on-year. Food, festive products, green and smart home appliances, mobile phones and tablets recorded booming sales, the Ministry of Commerce said on February 6.

Commenting on China's consumption trend, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Thursday that during the Spring Festival holidays, China's consumer market had witnessed a surge in demand for intangible cultural heritage experiences, winter sports-related spending, and trade-ins for new consumer goods.

The Chinese consumer market is undergoing a shift from high-volume consumption to high-quality consumption, Guo said, noting that China's super-large consumer market provides huge cooperation opportunities for all countries, and China will foster global economic confidence and drive sustained growth with its own high-quality development and high-level opening-up.

China is making vigorously boosting consumption one of the key tasks for 2025. A State Council executive meeting on Monday outlined measures to boost domestic consumption, highlighting the importance of expanding consumption in the culture, sports and tourism sectors; of promoting consumption in the snow-and-ice industry; of developing inbound tourism consumption, and of strengthening support for China's consumer goods trade-in program.

Bian Yongzu, an executive deputy editor-in-chief of Modernization of Management magazine, told the Global Times on Thursday that China's large market and consumption upgrade will continue to offer opportunities for global brands, many of which are studying Chinese consumers' preferences relentlessly.