An official from the Chinese government stated that the country is expecting a mad rush of people looking to get hitched on the opening day of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Speculations are circling around the superstition that the date of the Olympics - August 8, 2008 (8-8-08) - as bearing what many Chinese consider the number of luck.

The belief stems from the fact that the Chinese word for eight, "ba", is phonetically similar to a Chinese word that means fortune or wealth.

On the same date last year, around 3,400 couples were wed.