Young people in China aren’t spending on romance. That’s a problem

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Hong Kong CNN —

During China’s go-go years, young couples holding enormous bouquets of roses were a familiar sight during the Qixi Festival, an ancient holiday celebrating love and loyalty.

People would flock to social media to show off brand-new iPhones andLouis Vuitton handbags gifted by their partners, as well as photos of dinners at fancy restaurants, during the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day, which typically falls in July or August each year.

That was when China’s economic growth was the envy of the world. This year’s festival was on Saturday, and it was a very different story. People went online to complain about the lack of gift giving and festive spirit, citing a sluggish economy and tough job market.

The hashtag “consumption plummets on Chinese Valentine’s Day. Are young people unwilling to pay the love tax?” became the No 1 trending topic on the Weibo platform on Saturday, drawing 200 million views.

“The Qixi Festival is not as robust as previous years. It feels almost desolate,” one user wrote.

Owners of some flower shops took to Xiaohongshu, another popular platform, to bemoan the lack of customers, posting images of unsold roses lining their stores. CNN was not able to independently confirm their claims.

Other posts recalled forlornly that couples used to have money to spend when the world’s second largest economy was doing well. China is currently plagued by a litany of woes from sluggish consumer spending to a persistent property slump and a mounting debt crisis.

A red rose installation is on display at a commercial street ahead of Qixi