China takes marriage registration digital

Chinese authorities have set up a national network and database to handle marriage registration across 31 provincial regions, putting an end to manually-recorded marriage registration.

A provincial marriage network and database have been set up in each provincial region for local agencies to offer online marriage registration and verify individuals' marital status based on national data, an official from the country's Ministry of Civil Affairs told China Daily on Tuesday.

The national database will also prevent bigamy and improve services offered by marriage registration agencies, noted Yu Jianliang, director of the ministry's social affairs burea .

Civil affairs bureaus are now working to update data for the national network. Plans are also in the pipeline to exchange and share marital information with foreign affairs departments and relevant agencies in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, to facilitate the setting up of a centralized marital status database for all citizens across the territories, Yu added.

According to the article, the Beijing municipal civil affairs bureau signed an agreement with the municipal archives bureau to share information regarding historical data on marriage registration. It plans to complete data entry for  marriage registrations recorded after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 by the end of this year.