Chinanews, Shanghai, January 9 – Shanghainese witnessed a wedding boom in 2006, with the number of newlyweds jumping by 62.18%. However, the number of couples divorced leapt by 21.6% in the last year, too.

 

Statistics show that 162,663 people got married in Shanghai in 2006, and nearly all the prestigious restaurants in the city were booked up all through the year. In fact, many young couples had had to hold their wedding ceremonies on weekdays to avoid the crowds.

 

Wedding agencies experienced a peak season,too. In the 7-day National Day holiday, averagely a wedding agency received 30 to 35 young couples a day, some even as many as 90, making a wedding market worth some 400 million yuan.

 

Sadly, many young couples who rushed to get married also ended up in divorce not long after the wedding, particularly those who were born in the 1980s. It is estimated that nearly 1/3 of couples who got divorced in 2006 were under 25 years old.