[InKunming--Living in Kunming]  The date of February 14 will see two important festivals this year, as Lantern Festival, which falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in Chinese calendar, clashes with western Valentine's Day. This kind of phenomenon is said to be peculiar as it only occurs every 19 years.

The Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival for family reunion from time immemorial. The festival is also considered as a Chinese Valentine's Day, for single girls are allowed to stroll down the streets and seek their Mr . Rights with lantern lights in antiquity.

The Valentine's Day is a traditional western holiday endowed with love and romance. Men and women are used to exchanging gifts, such as roses and chocolates, to express love to each other.

This year, the two festivals coincidentally overlap, leaving couples a problem on how to celebrate the day. Some people may be apt to Chinese customs, such as eating sweet dumplings(Yuanxiao, a kind of Chinese food) with the family, while others may choose to have a candlelight dinner with their lovers.

As the big day approaches, roses and sweet dumplings begin to see good sales.

A snow disaster attacked Yunnan at the end of last year, resulting in price soaring in rose market. According to an operator of a flower shop in Kunming, price of a simple packaged rose is at around 15 yuan now, doubling the price in the same period last year. Price of 99 roses has gone up to 700-1000 yuan.

Compared to the high price of rose, price of sweet dumpling is relatively lower, which usually ranges from 2 yuan to 19.5 yuan. Jiahua Bakery, a local cake shop in Kunming, launches a new kind of sweet dumpling that uses roses as its sweet fillings. (Editors: Tracy, Cathy Chen)

Click here to view Chinese report.