Divorce applications will be not available on August 8, the opening day of the Olympic Games, in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, local Web site dahe.cn reports.

Nearly 1,000 couples are expected to tie the knot on this auspicious day, which has produced a huge workload for the city's marriage registry authorities, leaving less time and manpower to handle divorce applications.

According to Li Zuming, an official at the local civil affairs bureau, marriage and divorce registrations fall to different processing systems. Facing a mountain of marriage registrations on August 8, officials will have to persuade couples wanting to divorce to suspend their applications.

Eight is the most auspicious number among Chinese people, who believe it brings fortune and happiness, and the opening day of the Olympic Games gives the date added significance.

Couples who rush to register their marriages on lucky August 8 must make a booking three days ahead of time.

Other cities around the country will also suspend divorce procedures on the opening day of the Olympics.

(CRI August 6, 2008)