Here are some things to know about Barbie Hsu, Asia’s beloved Shan Cai
BARBIE HSU – The well-loved Taiwanese actor known for her “Meteor Garden” role died and here’s a look back at her life and career.
“Big S” or Barbie Hsu was remembered by many as the feisty but endearing Shancai in the 2001 hit series Meteor Garden. At that time, she was already 25 years old when she gave life to the character. This series dominated at the time when pop culture in the region embraced Taiwanese shows and music.
After Meteor Garden, Hsu starred in more than a dozen TV shows and movies. In the series, she worked closely with four other actors such as Jerry Yan as Daoming Si, Vic Chou as Huaze Lei, Vanness Wu as Meizuo, and Ken Chu as Ximen. Their group in the story was called “F4”.
About Hsu
She was born on October 6, 1976. Prior to her apparent rise because of the said series, she was part of a pop duo originally called S.O.S (renamed to ASOS — All Sisters of Shu). In this group, she was with her younger sister Dee, and their duo was launched in 1994. She was “Big S” while Dee was “Little S”.
They are known in the world of hosting and they have even hosted shows which included the variety program Guess Guess Guess, an entertainment news program called 100% Entertainment, a cooking show called Gourmet Secrets of the Stars, and a makeup reality show called Miss Beauty.
She was also an author. Years after Meteor Garden, released a beauty book under the name Mei Rong Da Wang called “Beauty Queen: Secrets of Beauty Treatment”. In this book, she shared her personal beauty tips and this was released in Chinese.
Her first husband named a hotel for her called S Hotel, a four-star boutique hotel. This is located in the Songshan district in Taipei, Taiwan but in August 2024, it closed down.
Hsu’s career after Meteor Garden
She starred in the Chinese period drama series, Eternity: A Chinese Ghost Story. She played the role of Nie Xiao Quian. In this story, she was taken by the Moon Kingdom as a child and later transformed into a fox spirit.
Hsu also did the Taiwanese romance TV series Say Yes Enterprise in 2004. This show was nominated for the Most Popular Television Series on the 39th Golden Bell Awards and the Best Television Series on the 40th.
She reunited with Vic Chou in another Taiwanese TV series, Mars.
The other projects she did were:
- The Ghost Inside in 2005, a Chinese horror film
- Silk, a Taiwanese horror film
- Corner With Love, the project where she was nominated for Best Actress at the 14th Shanghai Television Festival
- My So Called Love
- Connected, her first Hong Kong film where she was nominated for Best Actress at the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards
- On His Majesty’s Secret Service in 2009
- Summer’s Desire
- Hot Summer Days
- Future X-Cops
- Reign of Assassins
- Adventures of the King
- Croczilla
- Motorways
She married Chinese entrepreneur Wang Xiaofei in March 2011. 2012 was the last year she became active in the entertainment scene and in the same year, she bagged her first Best Actress award for the movie Croczilla at the 4th Macau International Movie Festival.
Hsu and Wang Xiaofei divorced in 2021 and were blessed with two children. After her divorce, she got back with her ex-boyfriend Koo Jun Yup and they tied the knot in February 2022.
She passed away on February 2 at the age of 48. According to her family, she contracted the flu from their trip to Japan and fell fatally due to pneumonia.
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