Chinese couples kiss during a mass wedding ceremony in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province on 08 August 2008.

Local civil affairs authorities said that 6,418 couples were married in Shanghai on Friday and 4,841 in Wuhan. Figures for other cities were not immediately available.

The ministry held a special meeting on Tuesday asking local authorities to increase staff, use volunteers, work longer hours and open more offices to cope with the surge.

Some registration offices in Beijing and Tianjin worked around the clock to meet demand.

The Chaoyang District office in eastern Beijing registered a couple shortly after it opened for business at midnight.