A total of 220 couples registered for marriage on May 20, 2019 at the Zhongshan Marriage Registration Center.[Photo by Miao Xiaojian]

May 20, also known as the 520 day, sounds like "I love you" in Chinese. The date has become one of the marriage rush days in recent years. 

At around 8:30 am on May 20, 2019, the waiting area in the Zhongshan Marriage Registration Center was full of couples. The electronic display screen was saying that 96 couples were waiting for registration for marriage.

"We arrived here at around 5:30 am and found that we were the first," said Mr Liang happily. "We choose this day to get married because '520' implies our romantic love and is easy to remember."

The Valentine's Day, the 520 day and the Double Seventh Festival have become marriage rush days every year, according to the Zhongshan Marriage Registration Center. On Monday morning, the center specially started working at 8:00 am, half and hour earlier than ordinary days.

Statistics show that on the 520 day a total of 220 couples registered for marriage at the Zhongshan Marriage Registration Center, in addition to 14 couples registering for divorce and 1 replacing their marriage certificate.