I Now Pronounce You Lucky

Thousands of people all over the world headed for the altar today, taking advantage of a lucky—not to mention easy-to-remember—date. More than 16,000 couples married in Beijing, where one officiant started tying knots shortly after 4am, reports the Christan Science Monitor. "It’s a good day for all Chinese people and all new couples, and it’s very memorable," one bride said of 8/8/08.

Eight is a lucky number in much of Asia, and yesterday was the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day, Fox News reports. The number sounds like the word for "prosperity," so repeating it sounds as if "you won the lotto and got rich," says a spokeswoman for the New York Chinese Cultural Association.
(More China stories.)