When Chinese bank clerk Ren Yingxiao and her fiancé planned their honeymoon, they stumbled upon a picture-perfect location in Xinjiang — Sayram Lake, complete with a marriage registration office.
“So we thought, why not get our marriage certificate there too?” said the 30-year-old.
Their lakeside wedding was part of a growing trend in China, where authorities are promoting destination-style marriage registrations to boost the country’s slumping marriage and birth rates.
Since May 2025, China has allowed couples to register their marriages anywhere in the country, rather than in their hometowns. The reform has made the process more flexible — and inspired local governments to compete for “marriage tourists.”
Registration offices have sprung up in scenic attractions, music festivals, subway stations, parks, and even nightclubs.
In Nanjing, couples can wed at the Confucius Temple in Ming Dynasty-themed ceremonies. In Chengdu, there’s now an office high up on Xiling Snow Mountain, over 3,000 metres above sea level. Meanwhile, Shanghai offers an unusual option — tying the knot at a nightclub after an official registration.
The effort seems to be paying off — for now.
Official data show that 1.61 million marriages were registered in the third quarter of 2025, up 22.5% year-on-year, reversing a decade-long decline.
The rebound follows a record 20.5% drop in 2024, when only 6.1 million couples married — the lowest since record-keeping began.
In Beijing, newlyweds Wang Jieyi, 31, and Zhan Yongqiang, 33, registered their marriage at the Huguo Guanyin Temple, a site long associated with peace and prosperity.
“It made our lives a little easier,” Wang said, noting they no longer had to return to their native Shandong province.
Sayram Lake’s appeal, Ren explained, goes beyond its scenery — it’s in the numbers.
- The lake’s altitude of 2,073 metres sounds like “love you deeply” in Mandarin.
- Its surface area of 1,314 sq km echoes the phrase “a lifetime.”
- It lies 520 km from Urumqi — a number that also means “I love you.”
“All those numbers had symbolic meaning,” she said.
Demographer Yi Fuxian of the University of Wisconsin–Madison praised the policy’s convenience but warned the rise may be temporary.
He predicts that by 2050, the number of Chinese women aged 20 to 34 — the prime marrying age — could halve to 58 million.
“Young women today prioritise education and independence,” Yi said. “That’s a structural shift, not something symbolic policies can fix.”
Ren agreed: “It’s unlikely two people who didn’t plan to marry would suddenly decide to while travelling. People need to feel financially secure first.”
