Today is the night before lunar New Year's Eve in China, but also Valentine's Day. Shops in China are competing with one other to get more people to come in and buy gifts for their soulmates on the romantic holiday that originated in the west.

Valentine's Day is definitely the best holiday of the year for flower shops. The number of buyers doubles, and the number of flowers sold can triple. La Moda, a flower themed lounge in Shanghai is promoting a special offer for preserved flowers - 999 yuan a bunch. It's not cheap, but there are plenty of boys coming to buy.

“Valentine's Day is definitely a good marketing day," said Zhou Jue, COO of Shanghai La Moda Investment Management, “men are sure to splurge on their girls.”

Flowers are not the only way to make money on Valentine's Day. Restaurants also grabbed the opportunity, especially western restaurants. Some restaurants such Molo Rong even offer special menu for Valentine's Day. The restaurant offers 2,199 yuan meal for two and the reservation list is full.

The western holiday of Valentine's Day has been popular in China for decades, with shops all over town thinking up new ways to attract everyone to buy something for that attractive partner. It's a competitive market, but still good business.

A survey from research company Oliver Wyman shows Chinese consumers are spending an average of 2,000 yuan on this year's Valentine's Day, a year-on-year increase of ten percent.

Meanwhile, a report from bank card payment processor MasterCard shows consumers in the Chinese mainland spend the most in the Asia-Pacific region on Valentine's Day. Hong Kong is second.

Though Valentine's Day originated in the west, market observers say Chinese consumers are spending more and more on the day, all thanks to China's expanding social media.

“What is quite different here than any other country is the importance of digital,” said Edouard de Mezerac, partner of Oliver Wyman, “so the sharing and the socializing, the experiencing, brands are finding new ways convincing consumers, showing consumers something different can be done. The amounts of moments share, the amount of experience shared through digital platform is thorough than any other countries.”