This post, originally from two years ago, has been popping up on a lot of searches in the past few days that bring readers to this site.  So let me run it again:

Against Valentine’s Day

    I think I have always been against Valentine’s Day: so obviously
constructed to play upon our romantic insecurities to sell cards and
flowers.  And when I see stories like this one, from today’s China Daily, I am only confirmed in my opposition:

Florists, restaurateurs and jewelry makers have pounding hearts waiting a
year for this huge business opportunity.

Romantic gifts at astronomical prices are popping up in China’s big cities –
commercialism is in the air, overshadowing the love.

In Beijing’s Guohua shopping mall, a rose made of platinum was priced at
199,999 yuan (US$24,691). The life-size rose, weighing 258 grams, attracted
curious buyers but no buyers.

     Ah yes, the sweet smell of commercialism in the air.  It’s really
rather pathetic.  If you have to buy things to demonstrate your love,
then that love does not run very deep.  Confucius would surely scoff.
For him, love must be performed everyday in the fulfillment of our
duties to those closest to us.  And Taoists would shrug.  For them,
love has a natural flow that cannot be altered by an array of material
goods.  So, who do I call to complain that taking on the claptrap of
Valentine’s Day runs counter to deep Chinese traditions?

    Of course, after all of my
protestations, I am trapped by the social expectations created by the
"holiday," and I will buy my wife a plant, a flowering plant that she
can put in the ground outside as soon as spring is far enough along.
But I am still against Valentine’s day…