Engaged couples ask gov't for special wedding date

Many soon-to-be brides and grooms in China are calling for civil affairs authorities to work one extra day on Feb 2, a Sunday, so they can tie the knot on the special day, a perfect symmetric date.

Feb 2, 2020 is written as 20200202 for the Chinese calendar. And Chinese people often like to get married on an even date as they believe that good things come in pairs.

In response to one citizen's appeal to allow people to get a marriage certificate on Feb 2, the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs said recently that people can apply online to get married on that Sunday.

The hashtag "There is a rare symmetric date in 2020" had been viewed 310 million times on Sina Weibo by Monday, with many netizens saying they want to get married on that date.

The Chinese pronunciation for 2020 is similar to "love you, love you", adding special meaning to the year and the date.