You Daoming, 49, who has a boy of 17, was very excited to receive his son's handmade Father's Day card yesterday.

"Strictly speaking, it cannot be called a card, it is just a piece of paper and my son wrote something on it. But it speaks more of the feeling than the store-bought variety," said You, his pride evident.

Like You, many fathers in China have received messages of one sort or another from sons and daughters, many of whom may be far from home studying or working.

Mobile phone text messages and e-mails bearing greetings, words of appreciation and love to fathers across the nation were an extremely popular way of getting the sentiment across.

The day, long popular in Western countries, was also good for business. Florist Zhou Xiangyang said he was happy to see that Father's Day had helped his trade, sorely hit by SARS.

"People aged 20 to 40 came here to buy flowers for their fathers. If someone knows his dad has a special flower then a bunch would be a nice gesture," Zhou said.

However, according to Zhou, the numbers of customers were less than on Mother's Day, but that is perhaps not surprising.

Mothering Sunday, or Mother's Day has a long history, whereas Father's Day is a more recent celebration -- perhaps the dads were beginning to feel a little bit forgotten in our increasingly busy world.

Apart from a gift of flowers, a good meal is also regarded as a perfect Father's Day gift for some Chinese. "Though I am not the home cooking type," said Xue Mei, a 24-year-old primary school teacher, "I will still give mum a day off and cook a good meal for my parents."

Others planned to splash out on dinner out at a restaurant so that their special father could enjoy the company of family and loved ones.

Many restaurants and shops have launched a series of promotions under the heading "Caring for Fathers" as a means to increase business, although the discounts on offer at several major shopping malls in Beijing failed to draw the crowds as expected.

The 100-sample poll conducted by the Yangtze Evening News in Nanjing, capital city of East China's Jiangsu Province, showed that Chinese citizens know much less about Father's Day than Mother's Day.

More than half of those surveyed know of such a day, but only 38 per cent know the exact date.

About 22 per cent of all respondents said they had made special plans ahead of Father's Day, while 34 per cent said they would mark the day by making a special point of speaking or sending a message to their fathers.

Thirty surveyed fathers, who made up half of the total male respondents, said Father's Day was not really important to them.

They said as long as their whole family are happy and healthy and they have time and a place to relax together, then it is Father's Day every day for them.

(China Daily June 16, 2003)