Taipei - Nearly 7,000 Taiwanese couples were expected to tie the knot in New Year weddings on Saturday - a 20-year high for a single day, the government and media reports said.
Household registration offices across the island opened their doors on the holiday to serve more than 6,800 couples who were expected to marry on the first day of the year 100 in Taiwan's calendar, said the interior ministry.
“The public often choose symbolic dates to get married and 100 symbolises happily ever after” in Chinese culture, the ministry said in a statement.
Last year, about 6,000 couples were married on September 9, which is the homophone of the phrase “everlasting” in Chinese, according to the United Daily News.
Government figures showed that 139,000 Taiwanese couples tied the knot in 2010, up from a record low of 117,000 a year previously.
The ministry said it was planning to launch a series of events to boost marriage rates with the island's birth rate among the world's lowest. - Sapa-AFP