Number of marriage registrations in China increases on Qixi Festival, Chinese Valentine's Day

Newlyweds show their marriage certificates on the day of the Qixi Festival in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Photo: VCG

According to recent statistics from several cities, the number of marriages on Qixi Festival, also known as Chinese Valentine's Day, which fell on a Saturday this year, has increased in several cities.

A total of 1,290 couples were registered at the Qixi Festival in Guangzhou, an increase of 10.92 percent from the 1,163 registrations last year and marking a record number of marriages registered at the Qixi Festival in Guangzhou, local media reported on Sunday.

In Shenzhen, southern China's Guangdong province, 1,063 couples were registered for marriage on Saturday, an increase from the 1,004 couples registered during last year's Qixi Festival.

Statistics show that a total of 1,982 couples registered their weddings on Shanghai's Qixi Festival, compared to 1,338 on the same day last year, an increase of nearly 700 registrations, according to The Paper, a Shanghai-based media outlet.

Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, saw a slight increase in marriages on Chinese Valentine's Day. As of 3 p.m. Saturday, local civil authorities processed a total of 586 marriages, double the average daily number, an official report said.

Wearing a white dress and veil, a woman surnamed Song from Harbin came to register her marriage on Chinese Valentine's Day and told local media that both she and her lover wished for a beautiful and lasting married life.

An official from a district in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi province, told local media that the civil affairs department where she works received 110 online reservations for couples on Saturday, five times more than on normal weekdays.

In order to give couples romantic memories on Qixi Festival day, civil affairs authorities across China have also organized a wide variety of festival activities.

A registry office in Beijing's Haidian district was equipped with various decorations, including a podium for taking the marriage oath and an oath wall so couples could take photos to capture the special moment, a local social media account reported on Saturday.

A local media outlet reported that in some districts of Hefei, east China's Anhui province, not only were ceremonies such as distributing gift bags and painting wedding fans held, but couples were also invited to activities such as reciting traditional Chinese love poems.

Global times