Author| Brenda
Editor| Ma Ji
This year’s Qixi Festival, Luo Fan realized that ” simple is the best”.
While businesses take advantage of the “romantic economy” to carry out intensive marketing, many consumers have no time to take this “ceremonial sense” into account.
In stark contrast to the lively commercial messages, there are pictures posted in the circle of friends with different styles from previous years. The restaurant that used to be “hard to find” is no longer difficult to find, but camping, visiting the park, and dancing wildly have become the intensive places to show affection in the circle of friends on the Qixi Festival, and the focus is “don’t need money”.
More uncertainty in life is quietly changing the consumption concept of many people. Compared with previous years, “a thousand pieces of gold buy romance”, relaxation, ease, and pragmatism have become the keywords of Qixi Festival for many couples this year.
Cleaning at home for Chinese Valentine’s Day, high-priced restaurants, this year’s exemption
The day before Chinese Valentine’s Day, Li Yuan He and his girlfriend, Xiao Pei, kept their eyes on the phone, trying to find a vacancy. But it’s not the restaurant, but the cleaning aunt they often invite.
Li Yuan, 28 years old, works at ByteDance and is working hard to make his heart beat with ByteDance. He and his girlfriend Xiao Pei have been in love for five years, and their relationship is quite stable. In previous years, on Qixi Festival, the two of them would find a good restaurant to check in to celebrate.
This year, the two quietly canceled the trip.
On Li Yuan’s mobile phone’s food recommendation app, restaurants with an average per capita consumption of 500+ on weekdays launched a set menu with a price of 2,500+ on the Qixi Festival, and restaurants with a per capita consumption of 2,000+ are even higher. Abandoning the “new middle class” who are not high enough and not getting low, and concentrate on serving the “rich class” who have no worries about the future.
A restaurant that costs 500 yuan per person on weekdays, and the Chinese Valentine’s Day set menu exceeds 2,500 yuan. Photo source: The interviewee
One of the “Black Pearl” restaurants that Xiao Pei wanted to go to the most. The signboard is an ingenious dessert. In the package priced at 2,399 yuan without alcohol on the Qixi Festival, this dessert is shaped into a red love, known as the special version of the Qixi Festival. The special thing is that it is good to take pictures on the mirror.
On weekdays, this restaurant includes all the signature dishes for two meals for less than 1,500 yuan. Xiao Pei looked at the screenshot on the phone and suddenly had a subtle “leek” sense.
Xiao Pei works in the real estate industry. Under the double blow of industry turmoil and the economic situation, she only received her May salary at the end of July. In addition to wages, various bonuses and benefits have also shrunk significantly, and the risk of layoffs is more like a sword of Damocles hanging over the head at all times.
The post-90s generation with a good income was originally the main force of consumption during the Qixi Festival, but the pain of the layoff crisis made the two people have no time to deal with these “ceremonies”.
The cleaning aunt of Qixi Festival is still difficult to meet. Photo source: Respondent
“When I have money in my hand and I am more confident, I put on makeup and he orders a restaurant. This kind of small luck is happy. But when I am very tired inside At times, these are like IQ taxes, and become a burden.” Xiao Pei said that when it was too hard to earn money, she was not in the mood to pay for various premiums.
At noon on the Qixi Festival, Xiao Pei struggled for a while, and tried to call several restaurants to order food. I didn’t expect that there were still vacancies in several restaurants. In previous years, these restaurants were already fully booked three or four days in advance. .
“It seems that everyone has lost their enthusiasm.” Xiao Pei said that a restaurant she followed didn’t release the Chinese Valentine’s Day set menu until 8:30 the night before the Chinese Valentine’s Day. “It’s also very difficult for merchants, either to raise prices to make a quick buck, or to lay flat.”
Chinese Valentine’s Day The merchant who sent the push temporarily the night before yesterday. Photo source: Respondents
Only flowers are still just needed for the Qixi Festival.
On August 1, more than 1.5 million flowers were shipped from Yunnan Flower Market alone. Meituan data shows that Beijing is the TOP 1 flower reservation city. A bouquet of beautiful flowers is still a reserved item for young couples in Beijing.
On the night of Qixi Festival, Li Yuan and his colleagues sneaked out of the office at eight o’clock, two hours earlier than the usual ten o’clock get off work time. He carefully selected a bunch of flowers from a street flower shop. The price of 299 yuan includes 20 roses. The flower shop is very cost-effective when it is about to close. A bouquet of tender pink roses is enough to decorate the festive atmosphere.
Xiao Pei trimmed the flowers bought by her boyfriend and inserted them, and made a table of good dishes by herself.
The two of them sat casually on the shiny floor that was wiped by the aunt, hugged the cat, and spent this special night peacefully, relaxing and saving money.
Li Yuan’s Qixi Festival flowers for his girlfriend. Source: Respondents
School playground camping, closed for two years, full of tricks
“The sky is as cool as water at night, lying down to watch the Cowherd and Vega”.
For student couples, the sense of ritual is still very important on the Qixi Festival known as “Chinese Valentine’s Day”.
Liu Yue and her boyfriend, who are in their third year, are very enthusiastic about the Qixi Festival. The school has been closed for two years, and they cherish every opportunity to reasonably “pretend”.
A university in Beijing where Liu Yue is studying was basically closed last semester. Even when the epidemic is not too serious, you need to report when you leave the school. If you leave the school without permission, there may be problems. will be punished.
During the two years of the epidemic, Liu Yue has become accustomed to not leaving school, and is not even familiar with the area around the school. And her boyfriend, who is in the fourth year, carefully maintains the two-point line between the internship unit and the dormitory in order to be able to practice smoothly.
On the day of Qixi Festival, the two chose not to leave the school for the sake of safety.
However, the daily experience at school is relatively normal, and “festival” is an important node for cultivating feelings. This year’s Qixi Festival, two people have browsed Xiaohongshu, and finally found a romantic and safe way to celebrate the festival – playground camping.
The playground camping in Xiaohongshu. Photo source: Xiaohongshu cc
Summer evening breeze, starry sky grass… One step closer, it is the front row box of the football game on the playground; world.
Although the camping activities will be driven away by the security guards when the playground closes, and during the period, various balls may be hit on the head, but in the view of Liu Yue, who is “reclusive”, playground camping The level of romance is enough to make people fascinated.
The light from the street lamps penetrates the small tent, leaving an orange-red glow on the grass. Liu Yue leaned against her boyfriend, and the two drank each other lightly in the tent.
“It’s unforgettable.” Liu Yue said.
Playground camping sky. Source: Interviewee
Liu Yue’s roommate Xiaoqi was a little bolder. She and her boyfriend chose to spend the Qixi Festival outside of school. The two chose a shop that made miniature landscapes and made Tanabata gifts for each other.
“In the past two years, many KTVs and bars have often been closed. At first, we would play board games or secret rooms. Later, the management of these stores began to be strict. play.” Xiao Qi said.
From regular DIY gold and silver ornaments, to Tufting (tufting), which is out of the circle on Douyin, to oil paintings, texture paintings and so on. When the script failed to kill, they tried many novel manual activities.
Beijing Tufting experience. Photo source: Xiaohongshu sabrina black dog brother
“I have never felt that my hands are so skillful before. My boyfriend is better at handicraft than me.” Xiaoqi said with a smile.
The consumption of Qixi Festival is downgraded, middle-class couples, take their baby for a walk
The Luo Fan couple after 80, The feeling of this year’s Qixi Festival is “the plain is the truth”.
Due to the epidemic, Luo Fan’s parents who lived in Shijiazhuang, Hebei were not able to come to Beijing this summer. During the Qixi Festival, Luo Fan and his wife also had to be self-reliant and take their baby for the festival. In previous years, the two-piece set of candlelight dinner + shopping has been replaced by a lively “hot pot bureau” that provides children’s meals this year.
“The little couples are looking at each other with affection. If my daughter makes an ‘Ow’, it will ruin the atmosphere.” Luo Fan said.
The itinerary of shopping has also changed this year.
After getting married, Luo Fan has already handed in his salary card, but he still makes a symbolic transfer to his wife Cheng Ying every year on Qixi Festival. , let Cheng Ying choose a gift for herself.
This year, Cheng Ying fell in love with the latest necklace from a luxury brand. This necklace was released in limited quantities on the official applet on July 14, 2022. When Cheng Ying saw it the next day, it was already sold out, so she clicked the arrival notice.
Although Cheng Ying received the necklace’s arrival notice soon, she did not place an order. On the day of Qixi Festival, Luo Fan saw his wife turn around and enter the gold shop next to him, and bought a bracelet without too many craftsmanship decorations.
Under questioning, Cheng Ying said that the material of the necklace was worthless, that the pendant was a little small, and that the color she liked was out of stock.
But he knew in his heart that his wife wanted to save money this year.
In the face of too many uncertainties, the consumption of married families gradually tends to be conservative.
Luo Fan and his wife work in a state-owned enterprise, and they are both locals in Beijing. They will not face layoffs in large factories, nor will they be held up by unfinished housing, and will not affect their business due to the epidemic. But they, who can be called drought and flood, still haven’t been able to escape a wave of tragic green stock.
The heart of the “middle class” has been tempered and can’t stand too much trouble. This year’s Qixi Festival, Luo Fan’s circle of friends did not have a picture of transfers and luxury consumption, only a few screenshots of the special edition 520 red envelopes for Qixi Festival.
The place where the circle of friends shows affection, mainly in Chaoyang Park, Liangma River, Olympic Sports and the recently emerging ” Yedi Holy Land” Shougang. Everyone tacitly took their children and walked around Beijing with “no money” corners.
On the night of Qixi Festival, Luo Fan and Cheng Ying took their daughter and drove to the first place.Steel, trying to relive the passion-burning years. However, before seeing the fancy lights under the Shougang Bridge, he was directly smashed home by the pouring rain.
Parking the car in the underground garage, Luo Fan opened the sleeping space in the car, and the family of three lay on the seats Let’s watch “Fox Fairy Little Matchmaker” that my daughter likes together.
In recent years, Luo Fan’s relationship with his family has become much closer. “Slowly, I feel that the proportion of the family is getting bigger and bigger, and many things need to be faced together. And objectively speaking, with children, The time spent together has also become longer, there is no need for chickens, and the parent-child relationship is also harmonious.”
Cheng Ying also We shared: “After the education and training was attacked, Luo Fan actually took a period of time to apply for various one-on-one courses to his daughter. Later, the time and money cost was too high to support it. And the overall environment has changed, You can’t see how other parents are shy in private, so you relax.”
Family has gradually become the focus of life, and more people have begun to look inward for stability and happiness. The Chinese Valentine’s Day for middle-class families with children has returned from SKP to drive-in movie theaters.