A park in Guangdong welcomes adults to take part in its children's amusement facilities during the 2018 International Children's Day. Photo: IC

 

Japanese anime Sailor Moon products sold at a pop-up store in Beijing, which opened a week ahead of the 2019 International Children's Day and attracts a number of grownups Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Chaoyang Joy City

 

Japanese anime Sailor Moon products sold at a pop-up store in Beijing, which opened a week ahead of the 2019 International Children's Day and attracts a number of grownups Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Chaoyang Joy City

June 1 is International Children's Day. Besides children, who are the main focus of the holiday celebration, a number of adults in China, mostly the post-1980s and the post-1990s generations, will celebrate as well. 

If you search for "Children's Day gift" on Taobao, China's largest online shopping website, it will recommend a number of products for "boyfriend" or "girlfriend."

On dfic.cn, a Chinese picture library website, there are a few pictures that show how adults in different regions of China celebrate Children's Day.

For example, a group picture taken on June 1, 2018 appeared with a caption saying that in  South China's Guangdong Province, a few children's amusement facilities had their grownup guests that day and another park also organized special games for grownups, such as a baby bottle drinking competition and an open-crotch pants competition .

Another group picture taken on May 30, 2015 showed a few adults in Guang'an, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, returning back to their former school, wearing nostalgic T-shirts and red scarves and playing childhood games.

"I think it's pretty good. It shows that people have a young mind," Zhen, who was born in the 1980s, told the Global Times. She added that she doesn't think there should be an age limit for people to celebrate the Children's Day. 

Lu, a mother in her 30s, also told the Global Times that she will celebrate Children's Day this year. As a fan of Japanese anime series Sailor Moon, she went to the Sailor Moon pop-up store at Chaoyang Joy City in Beijing last week with her husband, who bought her some anime products as Children's Day gifts. 

Like Lu, products that relate to childhood memories are the most popular gifts for grownups on Children's Day.

Xichang City Daily interviewed an online shop owner who goes with the nickname Xiaohua on Wednesday. She said that over the past years, nostalgic snacks and toys sold well on Children's Day and more grownups purchase them.

"What we care about are gifts. If there are no gifts, there is no need to celebrate the holiday," said a 12-year-old student.

"[But] what the grownups care about is the feeling," added her classmate.

"Speaking from a psychological perspective, grownups like to celebrate Children's Day because they find it is harder to get happiness in an adults' world while the happiness experienced as a child is pure, and therefore impresses them," said Wang Yuru, president of Shanghai Psychological Counseling Association, during an interview with China National Radio.