Chongqing couples scan faces to tie the knot

CHONGQING - Facial recognition technology can now help with getting hitched in China.

Couples in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality can have their personal information checked within a second at a machine and get their marriage certificates much quicker than before.

The face-scanning machine at the marriage and adoption registration center in Chongqing currently only serves marriage registration for Chongqing natives who marry foreigners, overseas Chinese or people from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan.

Since the machine was introduced in January, 65 couples have had their marriages registered through facial scanning.

Previously, staff at the center had to manually check the information on the ID card, passport and "hukou" booklet that records the birthplace and family members of the applicant, which took a lot more work and was prone to error.

The facial recognition technology can check the applicant's information in 0.3 second and produce a report for obtaining the marriage certificate. A fingerprint check will be required for twins and applicants who have undergone plastic surgery, staff at the center told Xinhua.

The center in Chongqing is currently the only one providing such services.

"We will expand its use to more centers in Chongqing if it works well," said Wan Shixian at the center.

Facial recognition technology has been increasingly applied in China. It has been used for entrance security systems, cash withdrawal, hotel reservations and ticket purchasing, making life more convenient and comfortable for many people.

A report from the Forward-looking Industry Research Institute showed the market value of facial-recognition in China exceeded 1 billion yuan (159 million US dollars) in 2016 and is expected to hit 5.1 billion yuan by 2021.