Guo Liang Wrote A Love Letter Every Three Days To His Wife When He First Came To S'pore From China

Many old-school romantic gestures are slowly becoming obsolete, no thanks to technology and social media. Seriously, when was the last time you actually received a handwritten letter from your other half? 

Mediacorp actor-host Guo Liang gave his two cents on the current dating scene, in a recent interview with Chinese media Zaobao.sg. 

The 57-year-old plays a devoted man who remains loyal to his ex-lover (played by Cynthia Koh), despite being married to someone else, in new Mediacorp crime drama No Other Way.

“We actually dated before. It’s just that she chose her career and did not want to marry. Out of anger, I married someone else, but for many years I never truly cut ties with her,” said Guo Liang about his onscreen relationship with Cynthia.

Guo Liang and Cynthia’s characters have a mutually beneficial, transactional relationship involving sexual dynamics, although the latter stresses that they also have genuine feelings for each other alongside mutual exploitation.

And that, according to Guo Liang, actually reflects modern views on romance.

“She has other lovers besides me, and I know about it. From a certain perspective, this is a modern way of handling relationships.”

“I can’t accept it, and I can’t imagine it. Unless there is no marriage and no cohabitation, then it becomes a personal choice,” said Guo Liang. 

When asked whether he believes in the concept of “till death do us part”, Guo Liang also had a rather pessimistic take. 

“I don’t believe in it anymore, and I’m increasingly disappointed. Times are different. I think people’s emotions have become so crude it’s unbelievable,” he said.

In fact, Guo Liang, who moved to Singapore from China in 1994, was quite a hopeless romantic himself, even when he was dating his wife, Jade Shen Jie, who was still in China. 

“I grew up writing love letters by hand. When I first came to Singapore, I would write one every three days, that was my idea of a love letter. We weren’t married then, and every letter carried longing, every letter was me waiting for her to come [to Singapore].”

Yet in this day and age, Guo Liang feels that romance is no longer as intense and passionate.

“If you ask young people whether they would love so deeply they’d die for it, I think the answer is probably: no time, or why should I?” he said.

No Other Way premieres June 29, weekdays 9pm on Ch 8, and will be available on demand for free on mewatch from June 29 in PG and M18 versions.

Meanwhile, catch Guo Liang in Under The Net in the video below: