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Asia Pacific|Barbie Hsu, Taiwanese Actress and Star of ‘Meteor Garden,’ Dies at 48
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/world/asia/barbie-hsu-dead.html
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Her role in the teen drama catapulted her to fame as a pop idol. She was also a TV host and appeared in films.
Feb. 14, 2025, 12:45 p.m. ET
Barbie Hsu, a Taiwanese actress, television host and pop star who catapulted to Pan-Asian popularity in 2001 as the star of the Cinderella-style teenage drama “Meteor Garden,” died on Feb. 2 in Tokyo. She was 48.
Her death was announced to TVBS News in Taiwan by her sister Dee Hsu, who said the cause was complications of the flu. The family had been vacationing in Japan.
In “Meteor Garden,” an adaptation of the Japanese manga “Boys Over Flowers,” Ms. Hsu played Dong Shan Cai, a naïve yet headstrong student from a poor family who is terrorized by a group of four handsome boys who call themselves F4 after she enrolls in the elite private school they attend. She reluctantly enters high society when F4’s leader, Dao Ming Si (played by Jerry Yan), falls for her.
With her expressive eyes and elfin features, Ms. Hsu was a natural for the role, and she exploded in popularity across swaths of Asia, where she was known by the nickname Big S.
Fans were particularly drawn to her character’s relatable and resilient nature. “I am like a blade of grass,” she said in one episode. “No matter how many times you cut me down, I will grow back and live again.”
The four male stars used the series’ influence to promote their boy band, also called F4 — for “Flower Four” — making “Meteor Garden” an early example of the genre known as idol drama, formulaic but addictive love stories featuring pop stars. Ms. Hsu’s character became the genre’s classic protagonist.
