On October 18, the issue of “Civil Affairs Bureau Responds to Elderly People Gathering to Obtain Marriage Certificates” trended on Weibo. It was reported that elderly people from Haiyang City in Yantai, Shandong Province, gathered at the marriage registration office to obtain marriage certificates, for reasons unknown.
A video circulating online shows a crowded hall with a sign that reads “Marriage Registration Office of Haiyang City Civil Affairs Bureau.” In the video, several staff members are busy assisting a large number of elderly people.
Multiple video recordings indicate that the elderly individuals present were there to apply for marriage certificate replacements.
Screenshots of WeChat groups circulating online reveal instructions for obtaining marriage certificates for couples married before 1990. They are required to obtain an introduction letter from the village to the town government. Those with existing records can directly apply at the marriage registration office, while those without must receive a certificate from the town civil affairs office and then bring both partners’ identification documents to the marriage registration office.
Another screenshot mentions that couples married between January 1, 1986, and December 31, 1989, received a notice from the marriage registration office to apply for replacement marriage certificates. Details for couples married outside this time period would be provided separately.
Both parties applying for replacement marriage certificates must have Haiyang City household registrations, with household registers that reflect their marital relationship, indicating they were married in various villages in Haiyang County between January 1, 1986, and December 31, 1989.
According to a report from “Da Wan News” on October 17, a source mentioned that on October 14, village committees received a notice from the Civil Affairs Bureau instructing couples married within the period from May 1, 1950, to September 1, 1997, to apply for replacement marriage certificates.
The source explained that some individuals had either lost their marriage certificates or never collected them, leading to the current need for replacements. The villagers were arranged for transportation to collectively handle the replacement process.
Regarding the reason behind the requirement for elderly individuals to obtain replacement marriage certificates, employees at the Haiyang City Civil Affairs Bureau’s Marriage Registration Office declined interview requests and stated that they would report the specifics to their superiors for a later response.
Officials from the Civil Affairs Bureau in Yantai mentioned that elderly individuals were being asked to apply for replacement marriage certificates due to missing marriage registration information from the system and lost marriage certificates from their original registration years.
They further explained that the older generation’s marriage certificates were originally paper-based, leading to incomplete records within the marriage registration system. In cases where an individual’s marriage information was missing from the system, the replacement process also involved updating the information accordingly.
Some netizens viewed this situation as redundant, suggesting that those who needed replacement certificates should have taken care of it themselves. Others questioned whether this initiative was a way to boost marriage registration numbers due to a declining trend in marriage rates among young people in China.
According to data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Chinese Communist Party in 2024, there were 6.1 million registered marriages, indicating a 20.5% decrease, marking the lowest recorded number since 1980. Over the past decade, the number of registered marriages has halved.