Several Chinese celebrities have expressed their love for their partners on Thursday (May 20).

May 20 is the unofficial Valentine's day in China, as 5-2-0 sounds somewhat similar to "I love you" in Mandarin.

However, Chinese actress Tong Liya and her husband, actor-director Chen Sicheng, chose this day to announce their divorce.

Tong, 37, the first runner-up in the Miss Xinjiang beauty pageant in 2002, posted on Weibo in Chinese on Thursday morning saying: "Life is worthy and the future is promising".

At the same time, Chen, 43, who has a five-year-old son with Tong, wrote on Weibo: "The story from 2011 to 2020 has come to an end. You will always be the ones I love and I will watch over you both in another capacity."

They tagged each other in their posts.

The divorce announcement trended on Weibo for several hours on Thursday, with some netizens even congratulating Tong for her divorce.

There have been past rumours that Tong and Chen have already split but kept it a secret. Chen writing that the story ended in 2020 likely confirms that rumour.

The two first met in 2010 while filming the TV series Beijing Love Story (2012). They made public their relationship in 2012 and married in 2014, with their son born in 2016.

Chen was accused of having an affair in 2017 and rumours that their marriage was on the rocks reached a feverish pitch in 2019.