New Delhi, February 2: People will remember this date - 02/02/2020 - not just for India's unprecedented 5-0 series whitewash against New Zealand in T20I cricket. Sunday's date is also a rare palindrome that has not happened over 900 years. Palindromes, which refer to words, phrases or a sequence of numbers that can be read the same way forward and backward, are not quite uncommon.

You may have also come across palindrome dates many times. But Sunday's palindrome is rare in the sense that it is an eight-digit palindrome and it works whether you write the date as "Month/Day/Year" or "Day/Month/Year".

According to Professor Aziz Inan of University of Portland in the US, the last such palindrome date to occur was 11/11/1111 - more than 900 years ago, the USA Today reported. Palindrome Day 2019 Date: Right to Left and Left to Right - October 9 Is Palindrome Day This Year!

The date attracted special attention in China as two and zero sound somewhat like love and you in Chinese. Couples in large numbers expressed interest to get their marriage registered on this date.

Responding to their requests, many places in China, including Beijing and Shanghai, decided earlier this year to offer marriage registration service for lovebirds on February 2 which is a Sunday.

However, not all of them could fulfill their wishes. The country's Ministry of Civil Affairs advised cancelling marriage registration service on Sunday due to the spreading novel coronavirus, Xinhua reported.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 03, 2020 11:12 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).