‍By Zhou Yiqiu & Zhu Danni ‍

February 14 is Valentine’s Day, the annual festival that celebrates love. CGTN interviewed three couples who are at different stages of their relationships, to learn more about love and long-lasting partnerships.  

Ren Mengyuan and Li Yang have been dating for a year. They say their relationship is still in the “honeymoon period” and so mutual understanding is still developing. ‍

During the early stages, when love is blooming, mutual understanding and overcoming differences is crucial, especially as it’s only natural that partners may sometimes agree and disagree.

And if you’ve read the book “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus,” you'll be aware that most common relationship problems between men and women are a result of fundamental psychologic‍al differences and that each gender is acclimated to its own planet's customs, not to those of the other.

One example is men complaining that if they offer solutions to the problems women raise during a conversation, women are not necessarily interested in solving those problems but mainly wanting to talk about them. 

You get it, right?

Li Xi and Chang Chun dated for a decade before tying the knot two years ago. They’re also new parents of a three-month-old baby.

Chang is the CEO of a startup, and Li is a working mother. While Chang’s job requires him to stay overtime at work, Li is mostly home nursing their child. 

But Li says Chang is also a responsible father despite spending much time at work, and is happy to devote time to the family.

But this might not be the case for others. Life-work balance can be tough for many couples, especially with a child.  

Though gender roles aren’t set in stone, women are often handed parenting duties while men are looked as the bread winners in the family. And in many cases working mothers, primarily responsible for child care, may end up sacrificing career advancement for child rearing.

But gender roles are changing, which means some couples are caught in the transition. In the past decades, female labor-force participation has increased in China. Also, as more women become economically independent, they are not hesitant to file for divorce and lead single lives. China’s divorce rate has tripled since 2002, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.  

Ren Liru and Yang Chengqing’s relationship might be every couple’s goal. They have been married for 50 years, and raised a son and granddaughter together. 

Their intimacy and relationship has been refined with time.

In his book “Intimate Relationships,” Rowland S. Miller has written that humans desire to belong and to love, desires which are usually satisfied in an intimate relationship. 

According to the author, a psychology professor, these relationships involve feelings of liking or loving one or more people, romance, physical or sexual attraction, sexual relationships, or emotional and personal support between people. He says intimate relationships allow a social network for people to form strong emotional attachments.