Join us for a free one-day workshop for educators at the Japanese American National Museum, hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. This workshop will include a guided tour of the beloved exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community, slated to close permanently in January 2025. Following the tour, learn strategies for engaging students in the primary source artifacts, images, and documents found in JANM’s vast collection and discover classroom-ready resources to support teaching and learning about the Japanese American experience.
Romance and commerce in China
February 14th isn't the original Valentine's Day in China, but that hasn't stopped the Western version of the holiday from finding a partner across the Pacific.
February 13, 2020
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get them delivered straight to your inbox!
February 14th isn't the original Valentine's Day in China (that belongs to the 2000 year old Qi Xi Festival in August), but that hasn't stopped the Western version of the holiday from finding a partner across the Pacific. In 2018, Chinese couples were the highest spending group in Asia-Pacific market, spending 190% more on Valentine's Day than Americans did: an average of $274 versus just $144.
In Hong Kong that same year, 64% of people surveyed went out to dinner while 25% stayed in. With the coronavirus death toll passing 1,300 from over 60,000 confirmed cases, it's likely those numbers will flip as people avoid public places. In anticipation of a decline in attendance, sources from the Chinese film industry predict that 15 films will delay their Valentine's Day weekend openings in China, including the Academy Award Winning Little Women.
If you don't get a rose this holiday, there's no need to feel left out. Singles in the U.S. actually spent more on Valentine's Day than their tied-down friends, jumping from $71 in 2018 to $235 per person in 2019. In China, Singles Day (November 11th) has been growing too. Sales topped $67 billion on Alibaba and JD.com last year, outspending the entire Thanksgiving season sales in the U.S. in the first hour alone.
More about love in China:
- Compare China's online dating scenes in 2012 and 2017.
- Mengjue “Ashley” Jiang is documenting China's 70 million LGBT population with her project OutChina.
- Cohabitation is increasingly common in urban China with 43% of Shanghai couples living together prior to marriage.
- At our State of the Chinese Economy conference, we learned about the role of marriage expectations in rising housing prices.
Featured Articles
October 20, 2024
October 20, 2024
Please join us for the Grad Mixer! Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC Annenberg. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so it is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with IR/foreign policy-related research topics and interests.
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/1zer188RE9dCS6Ho6
Events
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 - 3:00pm
Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow international students.
Thursday, November 7, 2024 - 4:00pm
Join us for an in-person conversation on Thursday, November 7th at 4pm with author David M. Lampton as he discusses his new book, Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War. The book examines the history of U.S.-China relations across eight U.S. presidential administrations.