10/10/10

11 Oct 2010 - Tens of thousands of couples went to their marriage registry on the mainland yesterday as they did not want to miss the once in a century 'lucky date'. More than 9,000 tied the knot on the 'triple lucky' day in Beijing alone, with some having to wait in line from 1h30 am onwards. Registration officials say there is a growing trend to pick wedding dates that match auspicious numbers, particularly dates where all the numbers collide. Some couples even negotiated for the 10h10 am spot. In many cities authorities set out special measures to cope with the additional work pressure, as the workload was sometimes more than ten times compared to average sundays. In Xian, where 3,000 couples wanted to get married, authorities stopped divorce proceedings to give way to the happy marriages. Hong Kong also had its share of lucky date marriages, but things were not as crazy as in the mainland.