Because “520” sounds like “I love you” in Mandarin, 20 May is a sought-after wedding-registration date in China. In 2024, Shenzhen registered 1,851 couples, the city’s highest single-day total in five years, compared with 1,810 the previous year. Reservation slots filled soon after release. Registration offices added on-site queues and worked overtime.
At the Honey Park registry in Futian, a long line of couples also waited to take photographs at an altar. One groom said he had booked online fifteen days in advance and enlisted family help to secure the slot. Reservations moved part of the administrative queue into an earlier digital contest, but they did not remove demand to mark “520” in person. Once paperwork was distributed, a new queue appeared around the photograph.