(Yicai Global) May 22 -- China saw a spike in consumption on May 20, one of several ‘Chinese Valentine’s Days.’

Hotel bookings for the unofficial celebration soared five-fold compared to a year earlier, with the average room rate paid by consumers born after 1995 reaching CNY430 (USD61), according to online travel agency Qunar.Com. Women spent more to celebrate the romantic day, paying an average CNY534 per room.

Box office takings topped CNY303 million (USD43.2 million) on May 20, an all-time record for the day. Dining out also surged on the day. Hotpot chain Haidilao International Holding told Yicai Global that it expected to have had 30 percent more customers on May 20 compared with normal weekends.

The term ‘520,’ an abbreviation for May 20, is pronounced “wu er ling” in Chinese, which resembles “wo ai ni” or ‘I love you’ in Chinese.

Yunnan province, China’s largest producer of flowers, said its output of fresh-cut blooms surged 30 percent ahead of May 20. The week before, the price of roses in Yunnan jumped 20 percent to 30 percent, while those of special and rare flowers doubled.

The sales of personal care items, home appliances, computers, telecom devices, consumer electronics, and healthy and dietary supplements rose sharply in the two weeks before 520, statistics from e-commerce platform Vip.Com showed.

Moreover, sales of gift boxes of make-up and cosmetics, premium merchandise, and household electrical appliances more than tripled ahead of May 20 compared with usual.

New types of consumption, such as online shopping, are developing rapidly, driven by technological developments and an upgrading of consumption, fuelling the evolution of the ‘gift economy,’ according to iiMedia Research.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Futura Costaglione