Barbie Hsu, a Taiwanese actress, television host and pop star who catapulted the pan-Asian popularity in 2001 as a star of the Cinderella teenage drama “Meteor Garden”, died on February 2 in Tokyo. She was 48 years old.
His death was announced at TVBS News in Taiwan by his sister Dee Hsu, who said that the cause was complications from the flu. The family was on vacation in Japan.
In “Meteor Garden”, an adaptation of the Japanese manga “Boys Over Flowers”, Ms. HSU played Dong Shan Cai, a naive but stubborn student of a poor family who is terrorized by a group of four beautiful boys who are called F4 Afterwards, she enrolled in the private elite school to which they attend. She reluctantly enters into high society when the leader of F4, Dao Ming Si (played by Jerry Yan), falls in love with her.
With her expressive eyes and her characteristics of Elfin, Ms. Hsu was natural for the role, and she exploded in popularity through the Asian bands, where she was known by the nickname Big S.
Fans were particularly attracted by the relatable and resilient nature of his character. “I am like a grass blade,” she said in an episode. “No matter how many times you have killed me, I will resume and live again.”
The four male stars used the influence of the series to promote their group of boys, also called F4 – for “Flower Four” – making “Meteor Garden” a first example of the genre known as the idol drama, stories of love formula but addictive featuring pop stars. The character of Mrs. HSU has become the classic protagonist of the genre.
While Mei Ting Li, professor of media studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who specializes in the Fandom and popular culture, wrote in an e-mail, the program “has become the archetype of television drama in Chinese language which allowed crossed celebrity affairs. “”
The popularity of the series has led to later shows adapted to the same source material, including a Chinese drama of the same name 2018 and the extremely successful “boys” (2009).
Its popularity has spread with regard to the Philippines, where it has become one of the best rated shows in the country, inspiring an almost religious fervor among young people who have become known as “meteor fever” . The Filipino men adopted the flexible hair and dress of their favorite characters, and the stars were assailed when they visited the country.
During a visit, in 2003, the Conglomerate of the ABS-CBN media, which broadcast “Meteor Garden”, Used lure actors In the wigs to distract paparazzi, and a hundred police officers were deployed to manage unruly crowds.
HSI-Yuan HSU was born on October 6, 1976 in Taipei, Taiwan, Huang Chun-Mei and Hsu Dog. The house was tumultuous: her mother separated from her father for her game. Barbie’s mother supported her, she and her two sisters, working as a real estate broker.
In 1994, Mrs. HSU and her younger sister, Dee, registered at the HWA Kang Arts School in Taipei, where they became friends with a group of classmates nicknamed the seven fairies, including actresses and singers Mavis Fan, Pace Wu and Aya Liu.
During his stay in Hwa Kang, the HSU sisters began to occur as a pop duo known as SOS, or Shu sisters; Their pop song by Bubblegum from 1995 “Ten Minutes of Love” has become a success in small groups. Later, they changed their name to Asos, for all Shu sisters, and varieties of co-organized varieties like “Guess”, from 1996 to 2000, and “100% Entertainment”, from 1998 to 2005.
Ms. HSU took advantage of its reputation from the “Meteor Garden” to promote two best -selling beauty guides, published in 2004 and 2007, which encouraged readers to try the face of red wine to prevent aging and Rogaine for thicken their eyebrows.
In 2008, she extended into Chinese cinema by playing a woman kidnapped by a gang of interpol agents in “Connected”, a remake of the 2004 Hollywood thriller “Cellular”. In 2010, she played a sadistic young woman who murdered her fiancé and her parents during her wedding night in the film of martial arts “Reign of Assassins”, with Michelle Yeoh.
Ms. HSU withdrew to act in 2011, but her tumultuous relationship with the Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei, whom she married in 2010, kept it under the spotlight; They divorced in 2021. His survivors include a son, HSI-Lin, and a girl, HSI-Yueh, as well as her second husband, Koo Jun-Yup, a South Korean singer known as DJ Koo, that She married in 2022.
Ms. HSU has experienced a multitude of health problems, including heart disease and epilepsy, as well as almost deadly crisis during the birth of her son. His death sent wave of sorrow through Asia and trend in Weibo, the Chinese social media platform. The morning post in southern China reported That many of his bereaved fans turned to the start-up of Chinese artificial intelligence Deepseek to build farewell letters imitating his writing style.
Many of these letters noted his signature sentence: “Live beautifully”.
