Photo: CFP

 
Valentine's Day, which will fall on Sunday, will be a day of double joy for Chinese couples in 2021, as the day of romance comes during the Spring Festival holidays, a time when exuberant family reunions and celebrations take place. 

However, this has also left many people who were looking to tie the knot on this day to wonder whether they will be able to register the marriage, since many public services close during the Spring Festival holidays. Responding to such concerns, multiple places across the country have announced that they will arrange on-call services to satisfy couples' needs.

Ji'an county in East China's Jiangxi Province announced that it will provide marriage registration services despite the holidays. While Valentine's Day is not considered a traditional Chinese holiday, the local civil affairs bureau said that since young people in China see the occasion as a good day to get married, it has decided to resume operations on this day, Chinese news agency The Paper reported on Tuesday.

Fuzhou in East China's Fujian Province has also issued guidelines in several districts for providing such services on Valentine's Day, media reports said. Local residents can book time slots online, and the civil affairs bureau will handle the bookings in batches. 

However, some authorities have reminded people to remain cautious about the COVID-19 transmission, given that the number of couples arriving at the local bureaus will pose potential risks as group gatherings. 

"Instead of spending the day with lovers, maybe this is a reminder that we should spare more time for family. Or better, we can bring our loved ones and their families together and spend a Valentine's Day with the whole family," a netizen said on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.   

Marriage registrations have been falling dramatically in many parts of China in recent years as young people nowadays are choosing to stay single or postponing marriage due to various factors such as busy work lives, the high cost of child care and the desire to be independent. 

Global Times