Jiang Lannie planned a lifetime trip to China with her fiancé to see the Soju Gardens, modern art in Shanghai, and snowboarding on the frozen Beijing lakes, but this project went unheeded due to the fear of an emerging coronavirus infection.
Instead of touring several cities in China, Jiang Lannie and her Ukrainian fiance committed her parents ’home for two weeks without leaving.
It is a fate that millions of lovers will know on Valentine's Day this year. Restaurants, flower shops, hotels and romantic places will record losses in a country paralyzed by the "Covid 19" epidemic.
Jiang, 24, who was stuck at her family’s home, taught her fiancé the Chinese game “Magun”.
"We have fun with the game of magon for two or three hours a day. He did not know this game and now he is fluent in it," she told AFP.
Fear of flowers
This year, Beijing fans will be deprived of romantic concerts and dinners serving seafood for 220 euros. These festivals, especially for Valentine's Day, have been canceled due to the spread of the virus.
"Valentine's Day will be no different from any other day in quarantine," says Terra, who is in Beijing and has lived with her boyfriend for three years.
Since returning from a visit to her relatives on the occasion of the Chinese New Year, her boyfriend and girl have gone out of their apartment only to shop.
The duo, like many Chinese, became fearful of shopping on websites, fearing that the person assigned to hand over the contaminated goods would transfer them.
"There are absolutely no roses this year," she says. "He will be afraid of buying it, and I will touch her."
The owner of a flower shop told France Press that sales had halved, compared to last year, in part because customers feared infection when it was delivered.
Another flower shop in Beijing estimates that its revenue has fallen by nearly 70%, but this is partly due to the absence of millions of people who did not return to the capital after the Chinese New Year celebrations.
Fearing infection on trains and planes, many people decided to extend their holidays and stay where they were.
Postponing weddings
In order to avoid gatherings and parties, the authorities called on the betrothed to postpone the wedding date, which harmed this prosperous economic sector.
Shu Hee, 25, was planning to get her marriage certificate on Valentine's Day with her family and future husband.
But they did, as well, postpone the marriage because the bride's family refused to leave the house, where they reside in the Canton (South).
"They are neither good at driving nor confident about shared transport," says Shaw Hee, expressing concern about the possibility of infection.
Others remain separate for long periods, as is Shao Wan, 28, who will remain her boyfriend in Taiwan for an indefinite period while she works in Beijing.
"I don't want to come back. What if he gets infected on the plane?"
However, some positives remain. Terra tells me that she takes advantage of the time she spends with her boyfriend at home. On normal days, they do not meet before 10 pm each day during the week.