First launched in September 2018 in East China's Jiangsu Province, the digital marriage certificate service has now expanded to East China's Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian province and Chongqing Municipality on Wednesday, which is Qixi Festival, also known as Chinese Valentine's Day. Photo: Screenshot of report by People's Daily on Sina Weibo

Forget to bring your marriage certificate when proving your family relationship? No worries. A digital marriage certificate that can be stored in your mobile phone became more widely available on Wednesday, which is Qixi Festival, also known as Chinese Valentine's Day.

First launched in September 2018 in East China's Jiangsu Province, the digital service has now expanded to East China's Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian province and Chongqing Municipality.

Spouses in those places can get a paper marriage certificate from the civil affairs bureau and an e-certificate based on facial recognition technology on Alipay, Chinese mobile payment platform, People's Daily reported Tuesday.

The e-certificate can be used as proof of marriage when taking out loans, enrolling a child in school, and managing a family inheritance.

"More portable, safer, more convenient," are the three advantages of the e-certificate.

"Safer" means even if the spouses lose their phone, they don't need to worry that others can use their marriage certificate as people have to go through four passes - inputting their phone's and Alipay passwords, fingerprint verification and facial recognition - before they can open the digital version of their  marriage certificate.

The move made splash on social media with married netizens welcoming it. A single person however answered his own question: "Do I need the e-certificate? No. I need a spouse." 

People's Daily