The numeric combination “520” sounds similar to “wo ai ni” – the Chinese phrase for "I love you." That’s why countless couples ready to seal their lifelong romantic bond choose to tie the knot on May 20. Even though this love-filled date is still less than two weeks away, booking slots at marriage registration centers in many Chinese cities have already been snapped up, according to media reports.

In Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, all time slots for marriage registration on May 20 are marked zero throughout the day in the city’s main urban areas, according to Hangzhou’s civil affairs reservation platform, local media outlet Hangzhou Daily reported on Saturday.

In South China’s Guangdong, statistics released by the province’s official online marriage registration reservation system show that as of 2 pm on Friday, all 15 marriage registration offices across Guangzhou’s 11 districts have zero remaining reservation quotas for May 20, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

Huicheng in Guangdong is also seeing a similar situation. A staff member from Huicheng district marriage registration office said that the number of reservations this year is higher than in previous years, with all the 140 reservation quota fully booked, local media outlet Huizhou.com reported on Saturday.

This surging trend in marriage registration is also seen across many parts of the country.

Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, had released over 3,100 reservation slots for marriage registration on May 20, of which more than 2,500 have already been booked, local media Hongxing News reported on Saturday.

In Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, more than 1,400 couples have reserved their marriage registration for May 20, among which over 400 bookings are from Xuanwu district, the People’s Daily reported.

The featured marriage registration venues located in scenic areas, such as Jinling romance center, Fuzi (Confucius) Temple scenic area and Gulou Plaza, are all fully booked, with some registration sites even running out of vacancies for May 21, according to the report.

Apart from the surge in offline reservations, many netizens hoping to mark this milestone event on May 20 have shared tips on snatching reservation slots on Chinese social media platforms.

A netizen with an IP location in Guangdong posted on Xiaohongshu that she and her boyfriend successfully secured a May 20 registration slot thanks to an extra quota. Other netizens offered advice, suggesting that one could try making inquiries by phone or attempting to secure a reservation number using a computer.

Relevant authorities in many places have introduced a range of considerate measures to help newlyweds cherish precious lifelong memories.

The Sayram Lake marriage registration center lies at Sayram Lake in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, dubbed by Chinese netizens as a “holy land of love,” where countless couples pledge their lifelong commitment. This year, it will increase reservation quotas for May 20 and May 21, according to the attraction’s official WeChat account.

In addition, the center has implemented real-name reservation and on-site verification measures to prevent scalping.

The Huicheng district marriage registration office will deploy additional staff and open extra service windows to alleviate the overload of reservations, Huizhou.com reported.

Furthermore, the newly revised Marriage Registration Regulations, which took effect on May 10, 2025, have greatly streamlined marriage registration procedures as it has removed geographical restrictions for marriage applications, the People’s Daily reported.

There has been a steady growth in the number of marriage registrations in China in recent years, with some media reports calling it a “marriage boom.”

In the year since the implementation of the newly revised Marriage Registration Regulations, a total of 682,000 cases of "nationwide interprovincial processing" have been handled, the report said.

According to data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there were 6.763 million marriage registrations and 2.743 million divorce registrations across China in 2025, CCTV News reported.

Compared with the 2024, the number of marriage registrations increased by 657,000 pairs, marking a growth rate of 10.76 percent, per CCTV News.