Xia Yu and Yuan Quan marry

Actor Xia Yu married fellow actress Yuan Quan, his girlfriend of ten years, sohu.com reported on Monday.

They registered for marriage last Friday, August 28, and issued a statement announcing their marriage, expressing gratitude to all friends and hoping for more time to spend alone together.

The Oriental Morning Post reported they had attempted to downplay the event by going to a Beijing civil administration bureau in secret early Friday morning to register the marriage. But netizens identified the celebrity couple and soon the media was calling to confirm the rumors of their marriage.

Instead of a grand wedding ceremony, the couple hosted a low-key, intimate affair for both families Friday night, and are planning another private party for friends later, the report said.

Xia Yu and Yuan Quan have been together since they were students at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. Their decade-long courtship was briefly interrupted by a love triangle involving Gao Yuanyuan, another actress, in 2007.

The two were seen together again that October, and photos showing the two cuddling and kissing after attending the Mass Film Hundred Flowers Awards in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou were all over the internet.

Earlier, Yuan Quan had said she was planning a long vacation in September to do some traveling alone. But according to media reports, a source close to Yuan Quan said the actress was actually taking a break to honeymoon in Japan with actor Xia Yu.

The latest reports from NetEase.com said Xia Yu hinted in a recent interview that he may consider taking several months off for a honeymoon trip around the world.