CHONGQING: The mood of celebration surrounding the nation's 60th anniversary may help to keep China's couples together, whether they like it or not.

In Chongqing, there will be marriages but no divorces during the National Day holiday, which begins on Oct 1 and extends for eight days.

"We will be working voluntarily during the holiday to issue marriage certificates but we will not be making any divorce appointments," explained an officer, surnamed Wang, who is in charge of the Marriage and Adoption Registration Center (MARC) of Yuzhong district, in central Chongqing city.