According to the BBC, thousands of couples flocked to registry offices across China on Friday hoping that getting married on that day would bring them lasting romance. Friday, January 4, 2013, when said in mandarin sounds similar to the declaration of “I will love you forever”:
At least 10,000 couples were due to tie the knot in Beijing, with many more turning up without an appointment.
On Friday – nicknamed “love you forever day” – couples were once again crowding into civil affairs departments in provinces around the country.
Couples in the southern island province of Hainan even braced bad weather and lined up in the rain, waiting for their chance to say “I do”.
Numbers play an important role in China, with eight – which sounds like the word “prosperity” – being considered particularly auspicious, the BBC’s Viv Marsh says.
Previously, China was part of the global wedding rush on 12/12/12 as it was considered an auspicious date. The Huffington Post reports the wedding rush was seen throughout China’s different provinces:
According to Sky News, approximately 10,000 couples were married in Beijing on Friday. Additional government staff were reportedly called in to deal with the nuptials surge.
In Guangdong province, CNTV reports that nearly 5,000 couples got hitched; while in Hong Kong, the city’s five marriage registries were said to have been fully booked since September 2012. And in Shanghai, according to Shanghai Daily, more than 7,000 couples tied the knot.
