China's netizens have been urged to avoid damaging the credibility of cyberspace after a story that went viral over the Spring Festival holiday turned out to be fabricated.

The story revolved around a 28-year-old woman from a well-off Shanghai background who claimed to have split up with her boyfriend after eating a meal at his family's home in a small village in Jiangxi province.

Her claims that she could not stand the humble food or the family's lowly home, quickly sparked online discussion about relationships between men from the countryside and metropolitan women.