Shanghai's marriage centers opened earlier than usual as unmarried couples lined up as early as 5 in the morning to tie the knot as the date — May 20, or 5-20, sounds similar to "wo ai ni," or "I love you," in Chinese.
But amid the joy, there were also murmurs of protest with some men complaining there were "too many dates" in a year for them to say "I love you!"
Yesterday, as many as 3,919 couples got their marriage certificates in Shanghai — about 10 times the usual daily figure.
The Pudong New Area marriage center was the busiest with 684 couples saying "I do." It was followed by Putuo and Yangpu districts, the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau said.
It was the most popular date for marriage this year. On Valentine's Day, 2,490 couples got their marriage certificates in Shanghai. But the numbers did not surpass last year's date when as many as 4,698 couples tied the knot across the city.
Cosily Chen, who works for a state enterprise and lives in Pudong, got up at 5am to reach the Putuo District registration center at 6:20am, only to find there were five other couples ahead of them.
"We tried to make online reservation more than two weeks ago, but they were fully booked. We decided to take the chance and come in early only to discover there were people standing before us," Chen said.
Chen's girlfriend surnamed Shi said she liked the date even if it meant queuing up early. She said it was a better choice than the dates their parents had in mind which is traditionally known to be auspicious days.
It was also an easy date to remember a wedding anniversary, she said.
Most marriage centers opened earlier than usual. Usually the centers open between 8:30am and 9am, but it opened the doors half an hour earlier.
Some married men moaned there were "too many days to remember" in a year.
Chen Chengfeng, who has been married for about two years, said he had at least five "dates" to celebrate every year.
"I need to prepare gifts five times a year — my wife's birthday, Valentine's Day, our wedding anniversary, May 20 and the day when we started dating. This is so crazy," he said. "It is a torture for men. It makes me nervous every time as I have to think what presents to buy," said Chen, who bought a computer for his wife this time.
"Besides, it is a costly affair. It costs me 1,000 yuan each time plus the gift," he said.
