Chinese consumers were once flooded with enthusiasm over Valentine’s Day, the unofficial Cyber-Valentine’s Day (520) and tradition-rich Qixi. But the electric charge around love festivals is dimming.

Just five or six years ago, love-centered festivals were a reliable consumer engine based on gifts, jewelry and flowers, while Qixi held deep cultural resonance. But now, those surges are sputtering, and luxury brands, which have been reliant on those sales spikes since 2016 (Dior was the first luxury name to launch a 520 campaign in China), are facing a reckoning.

The waning glow of romance festivals

According to official government statistics, marriage registrations have declined by more than half between 2014 and 2024. Amid this decrease, a rising number of young people don’t expect to p

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