NEARLY 1,000 couples registered for marriage in Shenzhen on Saturday, as it was May 20, or 520, which is pronounced similarly to “I love you” in Chinese, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

A resident, surnamed Liu, who was in line waiting to register for marriage at the Luohu District Marriage Registry on Saturday morning, said that she and her fiancé had woken up at around 6 a.m. to get prepared for the registration. “We fell in love and got together May 20 last year, so we wanted to get married on our 1st anniversary,” she said.

Li Shaozhong, director of the registry, said that his staff had started work 20 minutes earlier than normal Saturday and over 50 couples were already waiting before the registry opened. The registry also prepared 100 roses as free gifts for the couples.

Li said a total of 170 couples registered for marriage Saturday. “Usually we only work half a day Saturday. But today is special, so we extended our service hours and didn’t close until we finished registering the last couple in the line,” he said.

Six volunteers were deployed to assist couples at the filling-out tables and with printing their documents Saturday at Futian District Marriage Registry, where marriage registration was free for the day. The registry’s director, surnamed Huang, said that 180 couples registered for marriage Saturday, six times the number of a normal day.

The civil affairs bureau in Yantian District hosted a dating activity Saturday afternoon, offering an opportunity for participants from all walks of life in the district to make friends through interactive games, lectures and a matchmaking event, according to the report. (Zhang Yang)