'520’ love rush: Why Chinese cities are running out of marriage slots on May 20

Imagine you are dating a Chinese woman and you try to slip her a message in code: 143 (I love you). Chances are, she won't respond. Not because she's upset, but because she'll never decode it! Instead, send 520, and you might actually stand a chance of winning her heart!In China, the number 520 is whimsical, especially for romantic couples, which perfectly explains why, on May 20, Chinese cities get swamped, marriage registration offices are packed, and every venue is booked!The numeric combination ‘520’ sounds similar to ‘wo ai ni’ – the Chinese phrase for ‘I love you’. This linguistic quirk has transformed May 20 into one of the most auspicious dates for couples to say ‘I do’ to marriage.With the date just days away, the booking slots at marriage registration centres in many Chinese cities have already been filled. The phenomenon, which officials call a ‘marriage boom’, has taken over cities.In Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, every single time slot for marriage registration on May 20 has been exhausted, according to Hangzhou’s civil affairs reservation platform, local media outlet Hangzhou Daily reported.The story is the same for South China’s Guangdong. Statistics released by the province’s official online marriage registration reservation system show that all 15 marriage registration offices across Guangzhou’s 11 districts have zero remaining reservation quotas for May 20, as of 2 pm on Friday, Guangzhou Daily reported.The situation in Huicheng in Guangdong isn’t different either. The number of reservations this year is higher than in previous years, with all 140 reservation quotas fully booked, a staff member from the Huicheng district marriage registration office told Huizhou.com.This trend has swept across many parts of the country. In Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, where over 3,100 slots were initially released, more than 2,500 had already been claimed. The number of reservations is only rising.In Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, more than 1,400 couples have reserved spots for May 20, among which over 400 bookings are from Xuanwu district, People’s Daily reported.The desperation to get a slot on May 20 has become a heated discussion on social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu, with many netizens sharing tips and tricks to snatch reservation slots. While some couples are booking slots offline, others are figuring out how to get in.A netizen with an IP location in Guangdong posted on Xiaohongshu that she and her boyfriend successfully secured a May 20 registration slot, as there was an extra quota.This May 20 rush reflects a shift in Chinese marriage culture. Data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs shows that 6.763 million marriages were registered across China in 2025. There were 2.743 million divorces in the same year. Compared to 2024, there was a 10.76 per cent increase (657,000 additional couples) last year, CCTV News reported.