China´s couples throng to marry for triple eight

A total of 19 pairs of newlyweds from 12 cities of  China hold a romantic group wedding on the sea in  Olympic cohost city Qinhuangdao, north China's Hebei  Province, at about 11 a.m. on Aug. 8, 2008, 9 hour  countdown to the opening ceremony of the Olympics.   (Xinhua/Gong Zhihong)

  The office opened for business at midnight, said He Tieqing, spokesman for the district's Civil Affairs Bureau. "We were preparing our work and a couple came in, so we registered them," He said.

    Large groups started coming to the office at 6 a.m., two and half hours earlier than usual.

    "We chose this date because it's the opening of the Olympics. It's very memorable," said bride Tang Guinan. "We decided to marry on this day in 2003, when we were still in college. We were so happy when Beijing won the bid to host the Olympics in 2001."

    So many couples were planning to tie the knot on Aug. 8 that Beijing's marriage registries set up an on-line service to file paperwork in advance and speed up the process. More than 16,400 couples booked their marriage certificates on Aug. 8 in Beijing, according to the Beijing Civil Affairs Office. On Aug. 8 last year, 3,390 couples were married in Beijing, making it the second most popular date after Dec. 18 when 4,400 couples wed.

    Around the country, thousands of people were getting married on Friday; more than 5,000 couples registered in Shanghai, 3,300 in Guangzhou, 2,300 in Wuhan and 2,300 in Hangzhou, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

    Jiang Li, Vice Minister of Civil Affairs, said civil affairs bureaus should try to guarantee that all couples who wish to register on Aug. 8 get their certificates.