While some women received a bouquet for Chinese “Valentine’s Day” last week, one woman received a whole lot of nothing. To make up for that mistake, and avoid getting slapped, her boyfriend then went out and bought her a slice of sea.
In China, May 20th has become yet another sort of Valentine’s Day because in Mandarin the pronunciation of the numbers “520” sounds similar to “I love you.” To demonstrate this love, some significant others accept gifts. When the day passed without her receiving anything, one woman was evidently quite disappointed.
However, she was triumphant the following week, revealing on WeChat in a conversation with a friend that her boyfriend had bought for her 210 hectares of sea off the coast of Shandong province, winning the space in an online auction with a bid of 682,662 yuan ($99,000).
Now, you might think that individuals are unable to own part of the ocean, and you’d be right… sorta. According to Chinese property law, territorial waters cannot be bought or sold, however, China protects usage rights to these waters that are acquired legally.
In this case, the woman is the proud owner of fishing rights to the 210-hectare area which is evidently filled with sea cucumbers, abalone, and scallops. She’ll hold onto these rights until February 10th, 2029. It’s not clear if she has a boat.
Netizens on Weibo were amused by the gift, commenting that the woman would be free to “eat as much seafood as she wants for the next decade.” However, others questioned the validity of this whole story, suspecting that it might all just be a promotional move from the auction platform.
