Wu Yiran, 23, booked a table at a Korean restaurant for dinner with her boyfriend on Friday night as part of an early St. Valentine's Day celebration, which falls on Saturday.

"I put it a day earlier because restaurants will be overcrowded and meals will be overpriced on the Valentine's Day," said Wu, who works for a Shanghai-based joint venture.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the western Valentine's Day celebrated on Feb. 14 has become a one-hundred-percent spending spree in China. And this year, crisis or not, neither merchants nor lovers are going to leave this festive weekend alone.

Shopping malls, supermarkets, restaurants and entertainment venues prepared a week before the festival with roses, balloons, gifts and discounts.

Special counters for jewelry, flowers, teddy bears, chocolates and other gifts were set up in most shopping centers, and love songs echoed from every corner.

Beijing's Grand Pacific department store transformed its entrance into a wedding scene for the Valentine's Day promotion even on the night of the Chinese traditional Lantern Festival, which came five days earlier.

Both western-style and Chinese restaurants were advertising wine-and-dine packages at differing price tiers to attract different groups.

Quanjude, a 145-year-old restaurant chain known for Peking roast duck, also promoted Valentine's Day package menus this year in its branches in Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao, an eastern coastal city widely known for brand worship.

The Beijing Happy Valley theme park said it would offer a free ticket to ladies who came with their partners and arrange special activities for lovers during the Valentine's Day weekend.