Scenic spots across China offer marriage registration to traveling couples
In short
Scenic areas in several parts of China are now offering marriage registration on site, letting couples combine travel with getting their certificates, China News Service and Xinhua reported. The change follows the revised Marriage Registration Regulation, which allows mainland residents to register at any marriage registration office nationwide rather than only where their household is registered. Sailimu Lake in Xinjiang said its center has handled more than 20,000 couples this year, 80% of them from outside the region.
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Scenic areas in several parts of China are offering marriage registration on site, as couples combine travel with getting their marriage certificates, China News Service and Xinhua reported under the same headline. Since the revised Marriage Registration Regulation took effect, mainland residents are no longer limited to the place where their household is registered and may register at any marriage registration office nationwide, China News Service said. Local areas have combined registration services with tourism resources, the report said, giving couples a “travel plus certificate” option and opening what it described as a new channel for local cultural tourism spending. [ 1 , 2 ]
At Sailimu Lake in Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, the marriage registration hall was busy from early morning, with staff arranging seats and directing queues, and 347 couples completed registration that day, according to the report. Tang Zhangqi, from Hubei, said he and his partner Xiong Xinyi chose the site to mark their second anniversary. Center director Sendexi said the center opened in April 2024, supports nationwide registration, uses online appointments and charges nothing. The center added counters, going from 6 to 15, and opened three priority channels for active-duty military personnel, veterans and firefighters; Wang Zijian, a veteran from Hunan, said the channel made his appointment quick. Zhang Xiaofeng, from Jiangsu, said the site's number symbolism drew her and her partner Zhou Hailong. The report cited the lake's distance of about 520 km from Urumqi, its average altitude of about 2,073 meters and its area of 1,314 square kilometers, which combine into “52020731314.” The center has handled more than 20,000 couples this year, 80% of them from outside Xinjiang, Sendexi said. [ 1 ]
At Changbai Mountain in Jilin, the report described couples registering beneath flower decorations and walking the 1,314-meter love boardwalk in the Meiren Song Love Forest, where the registration office sits. Office head Sun Danni said the site began as a small registration point handling at most 30 couples a day when the Meiren Song Love Forest office opened in December 2025, and that in February it was expanded to the Meiren Song covered-bridge park, raising capacity to 180 couples a day, with added makeup styling, themed wedding photography, intangible heritage experiences and drinks. The report also described a “destination wedding” at Tianchi held by Peng and Wang from Jiangsu, who said they wanted to combine the ceremony with travel and their honeymoon and planned to stay in a guesthouse below the mountain. A local culture and tourism official said the area would develop its “sweet economy” further and work with civil affairs departments to set standards and guide wedding businesses toward higher-end, customized services. [ 1 ]
In Yuecheng district, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, the report described the “Xiyueli” marriage custom base in the yellow-wine town, where local resident Zhu Shuman and her partner wrote their names on a sealing strip and together sealed a jar of yellow wine after registering, then took photographs. Shaoxing yellow wine has a brewing history of more than 2,500 years and is part of local wedding custom, the report said, and the yellow-wine town opened to visitors in 2015 as a cultural tourism site. The article is cut off at this point. [ 1 ]
Xinhua published an item with the same headline on the same day. Only the headline was available, so it is not known what further detail, if any, it added. [ 2 ]
Why it matters
The end of household-registration limits turns marriage registration into an option couples can exercise wherever they travel, and the documents describe scenic-area registration desks as a new entry point for local tourism spending. At Sailimu Lake, 80% of registrations this year came from outside Xinjiang, which the report presents as evidence of cross-region demand. The China News Service report also describes local plans to expand wedding-related services and set industry standards.
Key facts
- Since the revised Marriage Registration Regulation took effect, mainland residents may register their marriage at any registration office nationwide, regardless of where their household is registered. [ 1 ]
- Several scenic areas have combined marriage registration services with tourism resources, a model the report describes as “travel plus certificate.” [ 1 , 2 ]
- Sailimu Lake's marriage registration center handled 347 couples on the day described and has handled more than 20,000 couples this year, 80% of them visitors from outside Xinjiang. [ 1 ]
- Sailimu Lake expanded its certificate counters from 6 to 15 and opened three priority channels for active-duty military personnel, veterans and firefighters during the registration peak. [ 1 ]
- Changbai Mountain's marriage registration office opened in the Meiren Song Love Forest in December 2025 and was expanded to the Meiren Song covered-bridge park in February, raising daily capacity from 30 to 180 couples. [ 1 ]
- The Shaoxing yellow-wine town base in Yuecheng district, Zhejiang, has couples seal a jar of local yellow wine as part of the registration ritual. [ 1 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Scenic areas in multiple parts of China are offering marriage registration services to traveling couples. [ 1 , 2 ]
- Under the revised Marriage Registration Regulation, mainland residents may register at any marriage registration office nationwide rather than only where their household is registered. [ 1 ]
- Sailimu Lake's marriage registration center has handled more than 20,000 couples this year, 80% of them from outside Xinjiang, and the center opened in April 2024. [ 1 ]
- Changbai Mountain's registration capacity rose from 30 to 180 couples a day after the office was expanded in February. [ 1 ]
Still unclear
- What Xinhua's report contained beyond its headline. Only the headline of the Xinhua item was available; no article text or feed summary was provided, so it is not known whether it added facts or differed from the China News Service account.
- The full details of the Shaoxing yellow-wine town case. The China News Service article is cut off mid-sentence in the Shaoxing section, so the account of that location is incomplete.
- How many places nationally now offer registration at scenic sites. The documents say “multiple places” and name three locations, without giving a nationwide total.
- The timing of the registration peak described at Sailimu Lake. The report refers to handling the Qixi registration peak, while the documents are dated 5 October; the documents do not explain the gap.