Veteran actress's memoir reveals 'on-set lovers' phenomenon in Chinese film industry

A public dispute between Chinese actress Jing Tian and crypto mogul Sun Yu Chen has unearthed a decades-old practice in the Chinese entertainment industry: actors forming romantic relationships on set while publicly vying for status.

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We were a lonely man and a resentful woman, tinder and fire, and we got together without realizing it.

Sun Yu Chen, who is suing Jing Tian for a reported 30 million yuan in dowry, detailed alleged backstage behavior in a lengthy post titled "My Girlfriend Jing Tian." He claimed that male and female actors would "make love at night and fight over roles during the day," only to act as if nothing happened after filming concluded. This sensational accusation quickly ignited widespread discussion online.

Adding fuel to the fire, netizens dug up the memoir of veteran actress Liu Xiaoqing. In her book, Liu candidly described such relationships as "commonplace in film crews." She explained that the prolonged, closed-off environment of film sets, combined with the emotional intensity of playing romantic roles, often led to intimate connections. "We were a lonely man and a resentful woman, tinder and fire, and we got together without realizing it," she wrote, detailing how actors, unable to return home for months or even over a year, would inevitably find themselves in such situations.

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Of course, this is commonplace in film crews.

This practice, documented in Liu's memoir from the 1980s, suggests a deep-rooted history of such arrangements in the Chinese film industry. Industry insiders have further revealed that these "on-set couples" are even more common than other behind-the-scenes dealings, with some jokingly remarking that being caught by paparazzi signifies a "public romance," while going unnoticed means being an "on-set couple."

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Actors would make love at night and fight over roles during the day, then act as if nothing happened after filming concluded.