Wong's divorce crushes fans

It was one of those "where were you when …" moments. For me, it was 9 pm on a Friday night. I scrolled my smartphone screen to refresh my Weibo feed when I learned of the catastrophe: pop starlet Faye Wong had divorced from her actor spouse Li Yapeng.

I told myself over and over it couldn't be true and must be a joke. Alas, the news was confirmed along with my belief that true love is little more than a myth.

Wong and Li dated for two years before they tied the knot in 2005. Their eight-year marriage survived intense media scrutiny and even overcame the infamous seven-year itch.

Wong's post announcing her divorce was forwarded 670,000 times within 12 hours and generated 350,000 comments.

Web users mournfully denounced love - a common cry after celebrity power couples split, yet one that seemed to carry greater weight this time.

As a lifelong Wong fan, I always felt that Li was unworthy to be married to such a goddess.

Li was an ordinary actor with a lackluster career in 2003 when he and Wong began dating, while she had already been an A-list singer and actress for a decade.

A friend told me their divorce proved that love and marriage can only take place "between two people with equal abilities and social status."

Another friend of mine, who has been married for two years, commented under my Weibo post about the Wong-Li divorce that marriage is the "grave of love."

I was surprised by her comment, considering how much she flaunts her marriage bliss and boasts about her husband on social media .

My friend's husband is a qiguanyan, or henpecked spouse, who once waited in his car for three hours while we girls shopped and had coffee because his wife told him to wait.

When I read her grim warning about marriage being a "grave of love," I suddenly felt fear towards marriage. As a woman in her early 20s, all my friends tell me to make the most of being single. My parents also warn me that marriage can mean endless fights and challenges.

I believe that even after divorce women should hold up their own "sky" proudly and elegantly. Wong can still be the glamorous diva, even as a divorcée.

The author is Mandy Xie