This Valentine's Day, Shanghai banker Richard Fan will be buying his
wife a 40,000 yuan (US$5,100) Cartier wrist watch.
"I think it's a better gift than some 10,000 or 20,000 yuan meal," said
Fan, 37.
"A gift you can use daily looks much more concrete," he added.
The watch's price tag is 12 times more than the average Chinese farmer
earns in a year.
Among Valentine's Day gift ideas on offer in Shanghai is a $1,000
wine-and-dine package that
includes limousine transfers, personal butlers and candle-lit dinners.
"People who earn more in Shanghai require something different for their
special days," said Joan Pan, a manager at the JW Marriott Hotel, situated
on the city's fashionable Nanjing Road.
This year for Valentine's Day, the hotel is offering a 28,888 yuan
package, including an overnight stay in either its Chairman's Suite or the
Presidential Suite.
Expensive? Not nearly as much as one hotel which last year offered a
Valentine package for a staggering 188,888 yuan ($24,000). The night
included a romantic cruise on a luxury yacht along the waters of the
Huangpu River.
Even some in the industry were shocked by that extravagance.
"It attracted attention for sure, but I'm not sure it gave people a
positive impression," said one Shanghai-based hotel manager.
