When Wu Hsia, 21, arranged a meeting with his girlfriend and his ex to put an end to constant bickering, the situation went from bad to worse.

A man found himself in a sticky situation when his current girlfriend and his ex both threw themselves into a river - to see which one he loved the most.

Confused Wu Hsia, 21, had broken up with long-term girlfriend Jun Tang, 20, after meeting new love 22-year-old Rong Tsao.

But over the following three months, jilted Jun kept hassling him to get back with her and so Wu decided to arrange a meeting between the three of them.

Wu said: "I was sick of being nagged from both sides.

"Rong was moaning about Jun and Jun was moaning about her and it all got too much."

But when they gathered at a beauty spot in Ningbo, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, the situation went from bad to worse.

A police spokesman said: "The girls began arguing and the man's ex-girlfriend felt insulted by a comment made by the new girlfriend, and so she jumped into the river calling for her former lover to save her.

"The new girlfriend, fearing that he might indeed jump in to save his ex-lover, then jumped in as well and both of them began calling for him to rescue them from drowning."

Wu settled the matter by jumping in the water to save his current girlfriend, and then taking the soaking wet and slightly injured young woman to hospital.

The police spokesman added: "He called his brother on the way home and told him to go to the river and rescue the ex-girlfriend."

Wu’s brother in turn called the fire brigade who arrived at the scene and helped Jun out of the water.

A rescue worker said: "She was taken to hospital but was released soon after without any major injuries."

The story has gone viral in China, where there is a chronic shortage of women due to the country's one-child policy.