HONG KONG • Hong Kong director Gordon Chan sparked some excitement on Monday when he updated his relationship status on Facebook to "married".

The Hong Kong media reported in June 2019 that Chan had registered his marriage to Chinese actress Jelly Xia, 30, in Hong Kong, but he had never confirmed this.

But Chan, who turned 61 last Saturday, had admitted that he was dating Xia when they were spotted together by the media in 2018.

He also revealed to the media on his birthday last year that Xia had given birth to their baby daughter a few days earlier.

On Monday, Chan's aide clarified to the media that Chan had married in 2019, but decided to update his Facebook status only this week.

Chan, who won Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards for Beast Cops (1998), is famous for directing movies such as The Yuppie Fantasia (1989) and Fight Back To School (1991).

He got to know Xia when he was directing the Chinese movie Mural (2011). The relatively unknown Xia also acted in The Four movie trilogy (2012 to 2014) directed by him.

Chan was married to former actress Vindy Chan, 53, from 1994 to 1997. They knew each other from when he directed the movie Brief Encounter In Shinjuku (1990). They have two children.