Ms.Shang and her newlywed husband (By Wang Yuan)

German guy with his Chinese bride

In the Chinese language, the pronunciation of the number nine (jiu) coincides with the meaning "forever, perpetual or eternal".

Therefore, 2009-09-09 is regarded as an once-in-a-lifetime auspicious day for couples to get married, in hope that the lucky “999” will bless an eternal love between lovers.

According to reports, yesterday Shandong province issued marriage certificates to nearly 30,000 newlyweds in a single day. An employee working at the Registry of Marriages in Lixia District, Jinan, said, “I have been busy all day since 7:30 am; I guess I won’t be able to get off duty until 19:00,” a Chinese news website reported.

In apple-pie order

At the Lixia District Registry of Marriages, staff members were already busy preparing for their day’s work. at 7 am, according to the news website. Dozens of couples had already gathered outside the door of the registry.

At 7:30 am, an hour earlier than the normal working hour, clerks of the Lixia registry began to handle procedures for the couples. According to a registry employee, couples with booking forms could go directly to the Certificate Issuance Hall to get their marriage certificate, while couples without booking forms had to go through several procedures such as filling in application forms, copying their relevant certificates and taking photos before acquiring their marriage certificates.

"In order to prevent couples from flocking into the registry at the same time, we issued unique numbers to every couple and informed them of a proper time period to come and retrieve their marriage certificates. Therefore, though there are many registrations on this single day, the registry is still kept in perfect order,” a registry staff member said.

10,000 fewer than 2008-08-08

Statistics provided by the Provincial Bureau of Civil Affairs show 14,138 couples, or 28,267 people, registered for marriage yesterday; yet on 2008-08-08, the day of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the number of registered couples reached a peak of 18,198, or 36,396 people, which meant that the number of Shandong people choosing to get married on 2009-09-09 was nearly 10,000 fewer than that on 2008-08-08.

Many couples who hadn’t made appointments beforehand queued outside the Lixia registry at an earlier time. Mr Li and Ms Yang said they arrived at the registry at 6:00 am but there were already eight couples before them; the first couple arrived at 5:00 am.

Many book marriage certificates, but few hold wedding ceremonies

Although almost 30,000 people registered for marriage certificates yesterday, few actually held wedding ceremonies. Liu Yongbo, Director of the Department of Publicity of the Provincial Etiquette and Celebration Professional Committee, said: “Only a hundred or so couples held wedding ceremonies yesterday. It was neither a weekend nor a double-numbered day in the lunar calendar, so it was not likely to be favored by many couples to hold a wedding ceremony.”

"The meaning of ‘999’ or ‘888’ or ‘666’ might be conferred and hyped by wedding service agencies; the numbers themselves are void of any special meaning,” Liu added.

An employee from the Social Affairs Department of the Provincial Bureau of Civil Affairs echoed Liu’s remark, saying the date of marriage registration is simply a "style". “What’s more important is the quality of the marriage, which needs real effort from both sides of couples.”.

By Li Jing