China’s ‘single dogs’ get special Valentine’s day treat

AFP FILE PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR

BEIJING — Alone on Chinese Valentine’s Day? Gift yourself a dried flower. Or better yet, indulge in a cake shaped like a “single dog.” Eating by yourself? A restaurant will sit a teddy bear across from you.

As couples coo over each other during China’s version of Valentine’s Day on Monday, several businesses will woo singles who may be unlucky with love but have money to spend.

While Valentine’s Day is on Feb. 14 in other parts of the world, China celebrates its version during the Qixi Festival, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

Couples go on dinner dates and exchange flowers and cards. And then there are the “single dogs,” as they are nicknamed in China.

200M singles

Nearly 200 million people are not married in the country of almost 1.4 billion, according to official figures, many resisting family and cultural pressure to settle down.

Businesses have something else for them.

One of the country’s most popular hot-pot restaurants, Haidilao, places a teddy bear across from customers who dine alone.

The bear can make customers “feel at home … not isolated and treated with warmth,” a local Haidilao restaurant manager, Xu Bin, said, adding that this service mainly targets younger customers.

Sweet tooth

For those with a sweet tooth, the Seven Color Rainbow bakery makes a cake in the shape of a pooch with his tongue out.

Dubbed “the single dog,” the dessert is 20 percent more expensive than the shop’s more common cake, but it accounts for 15 percent of sales.

“People buy these cakes for their friends as a benign joke,” said a staffer surnamed Liu.

At his flower shop, An Shuai offers single dried roses encased in glass, which he believes will be a hit on Valentine’s Day.

“People love to celebrate these festivals, and single people can also give flowers to themselves,” An said.

Traveling alone

A range of businesses are targeting singles, including travel, dining, online video games, online video streaming, sports apparels and cosmetics, according to Shaun Rein, founder of China Market Research Group and author of the book “The War for China’s Wallet.”

Travel agency Lvmama says the number of bookings for people without a companion rose almost twofold in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2016, according to the People’s Daily newspaper.

In the first 11 months of 2016, solo travelers accounted for 15 percent of the millions of travelers monitored by Ctrip, China’s largest online travel agency, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper.

Greater freedom

“More widespread among the young and single population, traveling alone has become a way for people to realize their spiritual pursuit,” Shi Yuduan, chief marketing officer of Ctrip’s tourism business department, was quoted as saying.

Zhou Kai, 29, feels greater freedom while being single.

“Without the restraint from a relationship or marriage, I can engage more time in personal interests and hobbies and spend more,” Zhou said.

The high-earning urban female population is a major economic player. —AFP