10/10/10: Perfect day to tie the knot

BEIJING - For the Chinese, number 10 implies perfection. So a large number of couples tied the knot Oct 10, 2010, or 10-10-10, in a bid to make their marriage a success.

The “lucky number day” was selected by young people to exchange vows a la 08/08/08 and 09/09/09 which too were believed to be lucky, the China Daily reported Sunday.

Aug 8, 2008 or 8-8-8 meant “making fortune” while Sep 9, 2009 or 9-9-9 stood for lasting relationship. Both days saw a surge in weddings in China.

In Kuala Lumpur, home to a large number of Chinese, a marriage registration officer told Xinhua that Nov 11 of 2011 and Dec 12 of 2012 would also see plenty of weddings.

The marriage registry office in Shanghai said it saw many online bookings for marriage certificates.

Many young people view Sunday’s date as auspicious because it implies the Chinese idiom, “perfection in everything”, officials told the Shanghai Daily.

Even time slots - from 10 a.m. to 10.20 a.m. - were booked, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

“I tried to book a fancy hotel in March, more than six months ahead, but I found that all the good wedding banquets on Oct 10 were already sold out,” said Liu Mengmeng, 29.

Tables for wedding parties in most hotels in China’s major cities were hard to book even half a year ago.

“We charge 3,588 yuan ($540) for each table, which is 20 percent higher on Oct 10 than usual days. In spite of that, the banquet halls had been fully booked in April,” said Ma Chuan, marketing manager of the Chang An Grand Hotel in Beijing.

In Shenzhen, wedding service agent Yang Yi said: “Some couples came to me so late that I couldn’t get everything ready in time. After all, everybody wants to marry on that day, and the earlier you start, the better wedding you get.”

Officials in marriage registration offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Jinan, Dalian and Zhengzhou decided to work extra hours Sunday to register new couples.

Authorities in Shanghai said the city saw 7,189 marriage registrations Aug 8, 2008 and 8,852 Sep 9, 2009.

“Nearly 700 couples had come to the registration office for reservations,” said an official with the marriage office in Dongcheng area in Beijing.

“That number is almost tenfold the everyday registration number. So we have arranged extra staff to ensure all the couples can get registered on that day,” he said.

Said Alice Huo, a bride: “A good beginning is half the success. We believe that a good date will allow us a good beginning.”