Emerald 'necklace' seen from the sky

The happy couple pose for a photo on the red "carpet" of chilis. [Photo/chinanews.com]

Man proposes to girlfriend with 99,999 chilies

A proposal doesn't necessarily need luxury cars and diamond rings, as a man proved so by using 99,999 chilies to get his sweetheart's nod on Nov 16.

The man, from Chengdu, Sichuan province, met his girlfriend while playing an online game several years ago. Since he hasn't purchased a house, which is considered a necessity for marriage by many Chinese women, he came up with the idea of drawing a house and the shape of a heart on a red "carpet" of chilies.

The red carpet was made of 99,999 chilies in total. The number implies the meaning of "forever love" as the pronunciation of ‘nine' in Chinese is the same as that of "久" (jiu), the Chinese equivalent of "forever".