Unexpectedly touching images showing a man wearing his girlfriend's high heels to relieve her tired feet have gone viral after warming hearts around the world.

More than 10,000 people have commented on the viral snaps from Chongqing Municipality's Shapingba District in south-western China, and they have been liked over 25,000 times.

The photos were taken by a woman with the surname Xie on the fourth floor of Xinqiao Hospital, where the girlfriend had been waiting to see a doctor.

Xie said the woman appeared to be in some discomfort, and that the couple had already swapped shoes when they turned up.

Unexpectedly touching images showing a man wearing his girlfriend's high heels to relieve her tired feet, taken in Shapingba District in south-western China, have gone viral

'The high heels were pink, so it was very obvious when I saw the man wearing them,' Xie said.

'She did offer to swap their shoes again, but he refused,' she said, adding: 'I found that really, really sweet.'

Xie's friend said she took the photos home and showed her boyfriend 'to educate him'.

It appears she was not the only person with that idea because thousands of netizens have also since praised the man for the gesture.

The doting boyfriend insisted on wearing his girlfriend's high heeled pink shoes so that she could be comfortable in his flat sandals