Couples flock to wed on auspicious day
Couples take a group photo with their marriage certificates at a registration office in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, on Feb 22. Many Chinese people consider Feb 22, 2022, an auspicious and rare date for marriage as the pronunciation of "two" in Chinese sounds like "love". Tuesday was doubly auspicious as it was the 22nd day of the first Chinese lunar month. [Photo by Xu Cheng/For China Daily]
Brides and grooms across China rushed to tie the knot on Feb 22, Feb 22, 2022, a date with many "twos", to take advantage of the number's pronunciation, which sounds like "love" in Chinese, as well as a Chinese belief that good things come in pairs.
The date is also the 22nd day of the year's first month on the Chinese lunar calendar, and netizens have named it the best day of the year for love.
Different hashtags about the date and people getting married on the day trended on social media.
The Beijing Bureau of Civil Affairs received 4,700 applications for marriage registration on Tuesday, and the bureau said registry offices had to ensure marriage licenses are issued, Beijing Daily reported.
In order to cope with the strong demand, marriage registration offices opened an hour earlier, put more employees on for the day and canceled lunch breaks, the newspaper said.
The Wuhan Civil Affairs Bureau in Hubei province told China Daily that marriage registration offices in the city made greater efforts to meet demand and did not limit the number of marriage registrations on Tuesday.
However, the bureau called on couples to refrain from all trying to get married on Tuesday and to follow COVID-19 epidemic containment measures. As long as couples work together and respect each other, any date is a good date to get married, a bureau official told China Daily.
Guo Mingming and Ou Bowen received their marriage license at Beijing's Fengtai district marriage registration office during their lunch break on Tuesday.
"We waited in line for more than an hour, but it's worthwhile because a special date adds to the significance of the occasion and we would have a unique date for the wedding anniversary," they said.
The couple, who did postgraduate studies together and have been partners for more than six years, said they are both ready to get married.
Accompanied by their friends, Beijing residents Luo Chen and Meng Jiayi waited for almost two hours to get married on Tuesday. They chose the date because getting married is an important event and they want their marriage to be memorable.
"Apart from a special date, what's important for us to have a successful marriage is to cherish each other's best qualities and tolerate the annoyances," they said.
Dong Xin and her fiance Zhang Yacong waited until midnight on Feb 7 to apply for their marriage registration on Tuesday, as Beijing allows 15 days of advance online booking.
They took the day off work and hired a photographer to take photos of the special occasion.
Every year, there is Valentine's Day and May 20－"520", whose pronunciation in Chinese sounds similar to "I love you". However, Dong said, a date with so many "twos" is so rare and special that it cannot be missed.
They also considered Feb 23,2023 if they had failed to get a spot at the registration office on Tuesday. "We just want our wedding anniversary to be different from that of other people, but judging by the people waiting in line, it seems we have failed," Dong said.