Chinese State Media Calls Out Yao Chen Over Divorce Revelation — Slams Celebrities for Turning “Official Announcements” into a Traffic Tactic

(Beijing, 24th) Actress Yao Chen and cinematographer Cao Yu recently confirmed their divorce, quickly topping trending topics across Chinese social media. The incident has reignited discussions on the increasing tendency of celebrities to dominate public discourse with personal matters.

On the 23rd, People’s Daily Online published a commentary titled “On the So-Called ‘Official Announcements’ (Part 1): If It’s Self-Revealed, How Can It Be ‘Unintentional’?”, criticizing the widespread misuse of the term “official announcement” (“guanxuan”) and calling for a more orderly public discourse environment.

The article highlighted that online public opinion spaces are increasingly functioning as “launch platforms” for celebrity personal news. Data shows that in the first half of 2025 alone, there were 637 such “announcements” in the entertainment sector, with a peak of 25 in a single day on May 20—chosen for its phonetic resemblance to “I love you.”

According to the commentary, these seemingly organic social media posts are often strategically constructed “pseudo-events” designed to attract public attention, turning private matters into consumable media content.

It further emphasized that the term “official announcement” was originally reserved for formal communications by government and authoritative institutions, carrying weight and credibility. Its current widespread application to celebrity relationships, influencer updates, and commercial endorsements has diluted its seriousness and transformed it into a tool for traffic generation.

Addressing claims by celebrity teams that they are merely “sharing personal life without intending to occupy public resources,” the article firmly rejected this argument. It stressed that public attention is a limited resource, and excessive focus on celebrity matters inevitably crowds out more critical issues such as public policy, safety alerts, and social welfare topics.

Using Yao Chen’s divorce as an example, the commentary argued that marital status is a private matter, not subject to public right-to-know, and should not be framed using authoritative terminology like “official announcement.” Such practices, it warned, risk distorting the information ecosystem and encouraging attention-driven narratives.

The article concluded by calling for the restoration of the original meaning of “official announcement,” urging society to resist the over-commercialization of public discourse and ensure that meaningful, socially relevant information regains visibility.