Marriage bureaus packed as Olympics begin

BEIJING, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- About 17,000 couples married Friday in Beijing, caught up in Olympic enthusiasm and numerology.

Some of the weddings were long-planned, and others spur of the moment. Chen Bing told The New York Times he only decided to propose to his girlfriend when he woke up in the morning, she consented and the pair got up and walked straight to a marriage bureau.

"I'm not usually so spontaneous but we've caught Olympic fever," Chen said.

Friday, the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year, would have been a day for weddings even if it had not coincided with the opening of the Beijing Summer Games. The word eight sounds like the word for fortune.

One marriage bureau in the Chanyang neighborhood reported 2,500 couples tying the knot, with a line that formed before midnight Thursday. On an average day, there are about 100 weddings.

The Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital reported a 20 percent increase in deliveries and said some women who wanted Caesarean sections had to be put off.