Alone and angry: Chinese singles declare war on Valentine's Day

Gifes in a heart-shaped box. [Photo/IC]

However, the ploys are not supported by all. "Just think about it. How would you feel when you find the chocolate you bought for a girl is spoiled or your wife has to have an abortion due to punctured condoms?" a netizen called Xiaomei said on Tieba, a communication platform provided by the Chinese search engine company Baidu.

"Won't it be dangerous to slap a stranger on street?" Hechiyxie cautioned, calling on people to avoid a possible violent encounter.

The anti-Valentine's day pranks have become increasingly popularity in recent years.

In 2014, a group of singles in Shanghai bought all the other seats for a Feb 14 special evening of a romance film at a cinema. The group even posted a message that taunted sweethearts and couples which read: "Wants to see a movie on Valentine's Day? Sorry, you'll have to sit separately. Absence makes the heart grow fonder".

The mischievous act was reportedly initiated by a man who broke up with his girlfriend the year before.

With a population of 1.36 billion, China naturally has a hefty share of the world's singles. A report by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs in 2011 shows there were 180 million singles in the country.

The situation is compounded by a dramatic gender imbalance, due to which, there are an estimated 34 million "surplus men" in China — a whole lot of lonely hearts.

Luckily, the country's unattached have found various ways to vent their grievances. They've even got their own day. Since the 1990s, Nov 11 has been celebrated as Singles Day, as the numerals — 11/11 — are said to look like "bare branches", a Chinese term for bachelors. Now the self-proclaimed festival has turned into a multi-billion dollar orgy of online shopping.