Odd Valentine's Day: How love makes people rack their brain

On a day when roses, flowers and hearts are so omnipresent that people have to rack their brains for a grand gesture aimed at their beloved, Valentine's Day often becomes a contest to see what people will do for the sake of romance. Sometimes it backfires.

They say a Public Display of Affection (PDA) is more of a young people's thing. They have good reason. The young and showy often employ the most convenient means of PDA – the selfie, thanks to an age where social media reigns. This, however, doesn't mean that senior citizens have but to let the new generation dominate the show.

Lights form "I (Heart) U" on the façade of a skyscraper in Hangzhou. [Photo/chinanews.com]

A skyscraper's façade was lit up with "I (Heart) U" on Sunday night. One may easily link this scene to a deep-pocketed young man eager to flaunt his emotion and wealth. The light show, to the surprise of people in East China's Hangzhou city, was orchestrated by an octogenarian. Qiao Dela, 84, decided to make it a memorable day for his wife, Liu Shixiu, 83. They have been married for 67 years. The happy wife also proved it's never too late to wear a wedding dress: she donned a white bridal gown for the first time in her life.

Qiao Dela kisses his wife, Liu Shixiu, on Valentine's Day. [Photo/chinanews.com]

We live in a time of commercialization, making it impossible to not spend money on any celebration. Now that spending is inevitable on Valentine's Day, here comes the question – how do you spend wisely without breaking the bank? It's a good time to see how market-savvy businesses craft ideas into profit. No place is better than China's flagship shopping website Taobao to get a snapshot of how money and festivity merge.

Take these savings banks for example. Sold on Taobao for 52 yuan ($8), this novelty features figurines of a cartoon-like couple, each holding a train ticket for a journey driven by sentimentality.

A pair of Valentine's Day-themed savings banks is sold on Taobao as memorabilia. [Photo/Taobao.com]

Details of the ticket are below.

One of the tickets is for a trip starting from "my heart" en route to "your heart". The price is not always affordable for everyone. You have to trade "true love" for the unlimited pass. Another ticket is valid for a trip starting from "happiness" to "immortality".

Goose bumps…You can't be too cheesy on such a day when a simple "I love you" is just not enough.

For those who want to make this day even bigger by presenting a ring, they need extra preparation. Pairing a proposal with roses, which can be significant on any other day, is bound to blend into the background on such a flower-packed day. Here's some advice - if you have any specialty, which you don't need to be a master of, make the best use of it.

Zhang Shuyi's running route, plotted with a smartphone app, spells out his marriage proposal, "MARRY ME", in Xuzhou city, East China's Jiangsu province on Feb 14, 2016.[Photo/IC]

In his daily running workout, Zhang Shuyi, 28, marked a digital footprint by using a smartphone app that plotted his route. The resulting curving line spelled out the words, "MARRY ME". Zhang knelt down at the finish line, where his girlfriend was waiting. Zhang lives in East China's Xuzhou city and has been a marathon aficionado for years.

This kind of tracking app is not unknown to runners. Used by a clever mind, technology is on your side.

When the golden mantra "less is more" is discarded on a day when extravagance is the new black, the fainted-hearted should have steadied their emotions before drowning in too much joy.

A bouquet of roses is displayed outside a flower shop in Weifang, east Shandong province, on Feb 14 2016. [Photo/IC]

A 48-year-old woman in Central China's Wuhan city received roses from her husband for the first time ever on Sunday. Overexcited, the wife, identified by her surname Zhang, coughed so hard her ribs fractured. How did that happen?

Zhang happened to have a bad cold when her husband decided to spice up their marriage by going with the romantic tradition.

But the roses caught her off guard and only made her conditions worse, leading to an unexpected outcome – a fractured rib.

Doctors said a cough usually isn't so severe that it causes a rib fracture, but Zhang weighs over 70 kg and is less than 160 cm tall, which means her ribs have to sustain much more chest pressure than a normal person.

So continuous and acute coughing led to a fractured rib.