Day to remember as couples tie the knot (4)

（China Daily） 08:19, December 13, 2012

Couples receive their marriage certificates in Shanghai, east China, Dec. 12, 2012. Chinese couples rushed to tie the knot on Wednesday, believing the day to be an auspicious one, as the date sounds like a promise of love when said in Chinese. (Xinhua/Ding Ding)

However, the surge created a bottleneck for civil servants working behind the counters.

Chen Ru, director of Haidian's marriage registration office, said her colleagues started work at 7 am, two hours earlier than usual.

"Ordinarily, we open 10 service windows. Today we opened 15," Chen said.

Younger Chinese are more picky about marriage registration dates than previous generations.

Valentine's Day, Oct 10, 2010 - 10/10/10 - and Nov 11, 2011 - 11/11/11 - have also been among the popular dates in recent years.

But there may be another date coming soon for romantics. Couples are expected to flock to marriage registration offices on Jan 4, 2013, which sounds similar to "love you forever" in Chinese.

"We really hope people don't jump on the bandwagon," added Chen in Haidian. "If you're really in love, every day is a good day to make it official."