北京盛行自己动手制作巧克力

25-year-old Xue Xiaoting is making a special gift for her boyfriend for this Valentine's Day.

She has been at the Chocolate DIY shop in central Beijing for most of the day getting the shape and inscriptions of her personalized chocolate gift just right.

As well as the word "love", she adds the name of her boyfriend to one of the pieces.

After hours of dedicated work, her personalized chocolate gift is finally ready to be boxed up and sent to her Valentine.

"I think this is quite a new way to express my feelings, and I don't think he'll (her boyfriend) want to eat it, he'll want to keep it forever so that he can remember my love forever."

Xue is just one of around 60 DIY chocolate makers that are in the store today. And with the possibility to design chocolates according to your own taste, not all of the chocolate shapes are traditional romantic symbols. One lady has created a chocolate iPhone Touch for her loved one.

The chocolate DIY shop is located in the city's business district and has been open for 18 months. The owner, Wu Yue, says giving DIY chocolate as a gift has become a popular method for many young Chinese people in Beijing to express their personalities:

"More and more customers are coming to our store as DIY chocolate is slowly being recognized by more and more young people in China. Our daily lives lack very little nowadays, but we need to think up innovative ideas to display our special personalities. At present, we are just trying to meet the demand of young customers who want to show their personal styles and characteristics through chocolate."

Valentine's Day is not a traditional celebration in China, but has become increasingly popular since the 1980's when the country started to open up to the West.

Today it has become one of the most important holidays after the Spring Festival, China's traditional New Year holiday.
In addition to sending gifts to their Valentines, many Chinese people send chocolate as a way of passing on happiness to others.

Jia Ling is a consultant with a telecoms company in Beijing. She's making chocolates to send to both her husband and her parents for Valentine's Day.

"I think making my own chocolates allows me to pass my happiness on to others. I'm happy when I make these chocolates, so when other people receive them as a gift, they'll understand my happiness and my special feelings towards them because they're not bought in a supermarket; they've been made by me. I think this is a very meaningful thing to do."

Chocolates can be bought at the Chocolate DIY shop for 48 yuan, or around $7.5 USD per 100g.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.