"We thought it would be meaningful and memorable to have our wedding on the new millennium National Day,'' Gao Huiqing, a bride from Beijing, said with a sweet smile.

Gao and her bridegroom are one of the 1,000 couples who tied the knot at the China Millennium Mass Wedding Ceremony held in the Tongzhou District of Beijing on National Day this year.

Similar group wedding ceremonies were also held in Xiamen, Dalian, Changsha, Haikou and a dozen other cities at the same time.

"It is wonderful to share our day with so many other couples from all over the country,'' said Gao.

A great number of the 1,000 couples came from Shandong, Guangdong, Hebei, Henan, Jilin and other provinces far from the capital.

Many are spending the rest of the long holiday visiting famous sites in Beijing including the Great Wall, the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City.

"Thanks to the long holiday, I can tour Beijing to my heart's content with my husband,'' said Qu Fang, a bride from Yantai in Shandong Province.

Although she has been to Beijing several times, she knew it would be special this time.

Immersed in bustling excitement, the newly-weds briefly performed traditional wedding routines such as bowing three times, drinking the nuptial cup and exchanging cups.

Although the couples each spent between 2,000 and 7,000 yuan (US$240-840) on the mass wedding, many thought it still saved them money and many over elaborate rituals.

For example, many of the newly-weds invited just a few relatives and good friends to a dinner instead of giving a grand wedding banquet.

More important, they were able to save their nuptial vacation, which ranges from 10 to 15 days, for a good honeymoon.

Whether the brides were in white Western wedding dresses or in red cheongsams -- a traditional Chinese wedding dress, their joy was the same.

Among the well-dressed couples were some elderly couples who attended the ceremony to mark their 20th, 30th, 40th or 50th wedding anniversaries.

"When we married during the 'cultural revolution' (1966-76), I was a serviceman. We had a very hasty and simple ceremony,'' recalled Zhang Laiqing, 57, who has been married to his wife for 30 years.

Du Shenghua, his wife, still remembers her wedding "dress,'' a cotton blouse and blue khaki trousers.

"This has been a golden opportunity to have a decent marriage ceremony,'' Zhang said as he exchanged love tokens with his wife.

(China Daily 10/05/2000)