Couples in China are rushing to get married in the coming Lunar Year of the Dog because it's considered to be an auspicious year for weddings.

 

A community service center in Luyang District, Anhui Province, has registered about 20 marriages a day since the beginning of the year. An official from the center said that this is twice the daily average of the previous 10 months.

 

And it seems that there will be more "dog days" for couples to marry. In the Year of the Dog, which starts from January 29, the lunar cycle will last 385 days until February 17, 2007 a phenomenon that will occur only 12 times between 221 BC and 2100 AD. The last time that the lunar year had 385 days was in 1944.

 

According to the lunar calendar, this Year of the Dog has 13 months. The extra month, called an intercalary month, is being inserted between the seventh and eighth lunar months to put things on par with the solar calendar since a lunar cycle lasts about 29.5 days.

 

The year also has two lichun, or beginnings of spring, February 4, 2006 and 2007.

 

"People believe a year with two spring beginnings and an intercalary month is a golden time to tie the knot," said Fei Guangze, general manager of the Suren Wedding Service Co in Hefei.

 

"As the Chinese proverb goes, double beginnings of spring and 13 months make a perfect year for weddings.

 

"We're already fully booked for February, March, May and October," he said. "Some couples made reservations a year in advance."

 

Many other cities have also reported soaring marriage registrations.

 

This has to do also with the fact that people were waiting for the inauspicious Year of the Rooster to pass. It was considered a "widow year" because of the lack of any lichun.

 

"Although the belief is ridiculous, the fact that people try to avoid it reflects a strong desire for a happy marriage," said Zhang Youde, a sociologist at Shanghai University.

 

A similar marriage rush was reported in January 2005, in the last days of the Year of the Monkey before the Year of the Rooster began on February 9.

 

Statistics show that about 10 million Chinese couples get married each year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2006)