Mew and Gulf. Photo: screenshot of video on Sina Weibo

In Chinese pronunciations, the numbers 5, 2, 0 sound like the phrase wo ai ni, or "I love you." This has led to May 20, or 5/20, to become a holiday in China similar to Valentine's Day in the West. This year, the day fell on Wednesday. 

In addition to expressing their love for their partners, Chinese fans also took to social media on Wednesday to confess their love for same-sex couples in various Thai boys' love (BL) dramas, such as the much-beloved pairing of Tharn and Type from TharnType The Series.

Many events for fans to show their support for the couple, played by actors Mew Suppasit (Tharn) and Gulf Kanawut (Type), were held across China as their romantic relationship in the drama has touched many Chinese netizens. For example, some Chinese fans paid for promotional videos of the couple to play on large screens on busy shopping streets in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, while others sent flowers to the Thai stars. Online, other fans helped promote the hashtag "520 with MewGulf" on Twitter.

"I hope they can spend this special 5.20 Day together," one fan wrote on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

The Thai web drama TharnType The Series tells the story of a gay man and a man who hates gay men who have to share a small space together and gradually fall in love.

Fan clubs of the couple in countries such as Malaysia and Singapore also posted messages of support on Twitter with the hashtag "520 with MewGulf."

The couple has rushed to No.2 on the chart of romantic couple pairings on Sina Weibo due to this support from fans.

Besides Mew and Gulf, another couple from the Thai BL drama Why RU the series, Fighter and Tutor, respectively played by actors Zee Pruk Panich and Saint Suppapong, also received quite a bit of support from Chinese fans on Wednesday.

The romantic links to May 20 have been increasingly accepted among young Chinese people. On Wednesday, civil affairs bureaus all over the country have had to deal with long lines of people waiting to register their marriage on this special day. Many couples began lining up at bureaus as early as 5 am, according to the China News Service, and one civil affairs bureau in Central #China's Henan Province suspended divorce services on Wednesday due to the high number of people getting married.