Most auspicious day for couples to tie knot

Valentine's Day, a popular date for Chinese lovebirds to tie the knot, came with an unexpected chill this year.

It is overshadowed by another date, February 22, 2022. The latter is believed to be "a day full of love" among Chinese couples because 2 sounds "love" in Chinese, making it an extremely popular date to exchange vows. Coincidentally, it falls on a Tuesday, boosting its popularity even further.

As of Monday morning, 857 couples in Shanghai had made reservations to tie the knot across the city on Valentine's Day, significantly less than the 1,955 slated for February 22, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

The booking number for February 15 in the city, Lantern Festival, is around 220 so far.

On Monday, 945 couples tied the knot in Shanghai.

Last year's Valentine's Day, marriage registration centers in Shanghai were not open, and the number was affected in 2020 due to COVID-19.

A total of 2,273 couples said "I do" at marriage registration centers across the city on 2019's Valentine's Day.

In many districts like Putuo, Jing'an and Xuhui, the number of reservations for marriage certificates on February 22 is twice that of Valentine's Day, and some have no reservation slots left for the day.

"There are too many coincidences behind the date, which makes it a favorite day among local couples," said Wu Yuexin, director of the Yangpu District Marriage Registration Center.

The center has received more than 147 reservations for February 22, compared with 58 with Valentine's Day. Its daily registration figure is between 10 and a couple dozen on normal days, according to Wu.

"All staffers at our center will work on February 22 to meet surging demand, but we still hope people can be rational when picking marriage dates and avoid peak times," she said.

In Changning District, the marriage registration center received only a small handful of reservations for Valentine's Day, compared with 135 for February 22. It only has 10 workers and the reservation figure is almost beyond its capacity, center officials said.

"Valentine's Day is annual while February 22, 2022, is once in a lifetime," a netizen said.

One woman who made a reservation for the 22nd joked that she wanted just two gifts, one on her wedding anniversary and another on Valentine's Day.

Getting married on an auspicious date is a long-standing tradition in Chinese culture.

A total of 2,567 couples tied the knot in the city on May 20, 2020, as "May 20, 2020" sounds similar to "ai ni ai ni wo ai ni" in Chinese, or "love you, love you, I love you."

On January 4, 2013, nearly 7,300 couples in the city said "I do" because the date sounds like "forever love" in Chinese.

On another auspicious date, October 10, 2010, local authorities registered marriages of 10,150 couples, a record high.

In Chinese tradition, the number 10-10-10 symbolizes perfection.