FOR generations of Chinese, the cinema has been a memorable part of their youthful love. Regardless of changing behaviours in different times, watching films is considered one of the best activities for young lovers.

Hu Han is a 24-year-old IT engineer. He has fallen in love with his girlfriend of almost five years. "I met her when I was still a freshman. As with any boy who has never experienced love before, I did not know how to tell her that I loved her," Hu said.

The breakthrough in their love came in the movie theatre. "It was a summer night in 2001, I invited her to Studio City Cinema on Nanjing Xilu. Although it was rather expensive to watch a film there. We selected Pearl Harbour that afternoon. The film was rather boring for me, but I did not doze off because she put her hand on mine from the beginning. It was the first time I had held her hand," he said.

"The darkness of the cinema and the romantic scenes in movies create a good environment for lovers," said Zhang Yi, a movie fan. "If you go to see the mid-night movie, you will find most of the audience are lovers who hug each other closely in the lovers-seats (big seats for two)."

For older generations, it was impossible to find a good theatre to savour love. Forty-seven-year-old Zhou Jian is a bit envious of today's young couples. Twenty-three years ago, he invited his girlfriend to watch a horror movie entitled "Hua Pi" (Painted Skin), a story about ghosts.

"Hundreds of people were packed in a temporary cinema which originally was a dining hall. We sat side by side but we didn't even dare to sit close because we would be embarrassed if people saw it. Afterward she was rather frightened by the movie and felt sick because of the stuffy hall. She blamed me the whole time as I walked her home. After that, we rarely went to theatres and she refused my love in the end," Zhou said.

Not everyone thinks that today's theatres are better places for dating than before. Wang Hanzhi, 30, said that she still feels the days she spent with her boyfriend in shabby all-night VHS projection rooms near her university were the most memorable ones. "Compared with today's cinemas, it was cheap enough for us to watch movies for a whole night. Now when my husband and I go to the cinema, we are disturbed by mobile phones in the audiences nearby every now and then," she said. Xu Jitao