Wishes not realized for hopeful couples

Couples who want to be married on May 20, a day known for its homophone with "I love you" in Chinese, are likely to be upset because it falls on Sunday this year, a day-off for Shanghai marriage registration officials.

Despite a wide appeal from the public, Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, the government department that is responsible for marriage registration, declined to work on weekends.

Young couples can choose some specific day that is especially meaningful for themselves, rather than following the majority, suggested Lin Kewu, deputy chief of Marriage Registry of Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, during an interview with eastday.com, a Shanghai-based news website.

But not all agree with Lin's suggestion. A netizen named "neighbor Xiaofeng" insisted that the romantic date is also "of great meaning" for him and his girlfriend and he hoped the department could make an exception for special dates of this kind.

Special dates such as Valentine's Day and the Nov 11, 2011, which is interpreted as "love in all one's life" in Chinese, have been unusually popular with young couples in recent years.

Statistics provided by the registry showed that the May 20 last year witnessed a total of 1,758 couples registering for marriage, while the average daily registration number is no more than 400.