Barbie Hsu

Shi-yuan "Barbie" Hsu (Chinese: 徐熙媛; pinyin: Xú Xīyuán; 6 October 1976 – 2 February 2025), also known by her stage name Big S (大S; Dà S), was a Taiwanese actress, singer, and television host. She debuted alongside her younger sister Dee Hsu (Little S) in 1994 as part of the musical duo S.O.S (later A.S.O.S), which shifted its focus to television hosting beginning in 1996. The sisters co-hosted variety shows such as Guess (1996–2000) and 100% Entertainment (1998–2005). Hsu rose to pan-Asian fame with her leading role in the television drama Meteor Garden (2001–2002), and subsequently starred in dramas such as Mars (2004), Corner with Love (2007), Summer's Desire (2010), as well as films Connected (2008) and Reign of Assassins (2010).
Hsu ranked 33rd on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 in 2010, 16th in 2011, and 45th in 2012.
Hsu was born on 6 October 1976 to Hsu Chien and Huang Chun-mei in Taipei as the second child of three sisters. She had an elder sister, Hsu Shi-hsien, and a younger sister, Dee Hsu.
Hsu's paternal family owned a jeweler's shop in Taipei, founded by her paternal grandfather, a waishengren from Tancheng County, Shandong, for over 60 years until its closure in 2018. When she was young, her mother, a benshengren originally working as a waitress at the restaurant next to the Hsus' shop before marriage, separated from Hsu's father, the only son with seven elder sisters, due to pressure from his family to bear a son, along with his infidelity, domestic abuse, alcoholism and gambling. Her mother worked as a real estate broker to support Hsu and her two sisters while her father fled due to his gambling debt when she was 14, though he later returned. Her parents formally divorced in late 2008, as part of an agreement in which Barbie and Dee settled their father’s gambling debt one last time in exchange for his signature. Their mother acted as a spokesperson and partial manager throughout their career, while their father, who maintained a good relationship with his daughters after he had given up drinking, died from liver cancer in 2012 at the age of 59.
In 1994, Barbie and Dee enrolled at the Taipei Hwa Kang Arts School, after Barbie had spent a year at the National Kuo Kuang Academy of Arts, whose military-style discipline prompted her to drop out. At Hwa Kang, the sisters befriended classmates Pace Wu, Aya Liu, and three others, forming a close-knit group known as the “Seven Fairies.” After four of them entered the entertainment industry, they grew close to three fellow artists—Christine Fan, Mavis Fan, and Makiyo Kawashima—who were later also widely associated with the name “Seven Fairies.”
At age 11, Hsu made her first film appearance as an extra in The Sea Plan (1987), directed by Heinrich Wang. At 14, she began working as a commercial actor to help support her family, including appearing in a beverage commercial with Takeshi Kaneshiro at 17, before attending the Taipei Hwa Kang Arts School. Meanwhile, at 15, when Barbie accompanied her sister Dee to an audition after Dee had been invited for a commercial with singer Chou Chuan-huing, they were scouted by Chou’s label, Famous Records (神采唱片), which signed Barbie before signing Dee as well. Barbie was featured on the variety show Comedian Bump Earth (笑星撞地球) with Chou as his "fan," while the sisters appeared in the music video for Chou's song "Can't Let You Go" (捨不得你走) in 1991. However, before their debut as a pop duo, contractual disputes arose, as the sisters’ playful personalities clashed with Famous Records founder Chen Kuo-Chin's vision of a more "pure and innocent" image for them. As a result, their first album, Occupy Youth (佔領年輕), was shelved for two years. When it was released in 1994, Chen initially named the duo Do Bi Do Wa (嘟比嘟哇) after one of their songs. However, during their first recording of a variety show, the host mistakenly assumed that one sister was named Do Bi and the other Do Wa. Disliking the name, Hsu sought help from the album’s producer, Bing Wang, who subsequently renamed them S.O.S. (Sisters of Shiu), which also led to their respective stage names, Big S and Little S.
The duo gained popularity in 1995 with their bubblegum pop song "Ten-Minute Love" (十分鐘的戀愛) from their second album Best of S.O.S., but their following albums received little notice. In 1995, they attempted to break into the Japanese market with the release of two albums: Occupy Youth, their Taiwanese debut album, was released in Japan on August 19, followed by a best-of compilation on December 16, which featured Japanese versions of songs from their first three Taiwanese albums and four additional Japanese tracks. They also appeared on Fuji TV’s late-night variety show Asia N Beat (アジアNビート).
In 1996, with their music career in decline, they opened a clothing store and considered leaving the industry. However, on the Mid-Autumn festival of that year, they were approached by TV producer and manager Wang Wei-Zhong, known as Taiwan’s "Godfather of Variety Shows," who offered them hosting gigs. After becoming the first generation of Guess hosts and then terminating their contract with Chen, whose agency banned them from releasing albums under their original group name, they rebranded as A.S.O.S. [zh] (Adult Sisters of Shiu) and signed with Wang's Golden Star Entertainment. Following this, the duo shifted their career focus from singing to hosting. They co-hosted Golden Star-produced variety show Guess (1996–2000) with Lung Shao-hua and then Jacky Wu, respectively; entertainment news program 100% Entertainment (1998–2005); variety show Weekend Three Precious Fun (週末三寶Fun) (2001) with Harlem Yu; and cooking show Gourmet Secrets of the Stars [zh] (2007–2008). The duo ended their management partnership with Wang Wei-Zhong and established their own studios in 2010, after which Barbie primarily focused on acting in Hong Kong and mainland China, while Dee continued hosting in Taiwan.
As hosts, the duo became known for their casual, intimate, and authentic style, underpinned by a sharp sense of humor, with Barbie often playing the straight man while Dee played the comic. After the initial success of Guess, they revitalized not only their career but also GTV with the sassy and lively 100% Entertainment, where they blurred the boundaries between their private and public lives through (over-)sharing family stories—some of the most dramatic unfolded live on the show—and thus creating reality television avant la lettre in the Chinese-speaking world. Episodes of 100% Entertainment from their tenure found a new audience on social media starting in 2019, when GTV re-aired an edited version.
Musically, after leaving Famous Records in 1997, they mainly focused on hosting and did not release an album for four years, until Pervert Girls (變態少女) in 2001, their first album as A.S.O.S. but also their last as a group. They signed a one-year record deal with a relatively small label Skyhigh Entertainment in exchange for the creative carte blanche over the album, where Barbie and Dee wrote all the compositions and lyrics. Initially produced by Sandee Chan before she was replaced by Mavis Fan, the album was a gothic fantasia that was overlooked upon release, with one song, "Love You to Death" (愛你愛到死), censored in mainland China, but was later reassessed for its avant-garde experimentation and revived on social media. In 2010, Barbie, Dee, and Mavis Fan debuted Shorty Tall (小小大), a group they had contemplated forming for years, but performed only twice at the Kangsi Concert in Beijing and Shenyang that same year. Barbie, Dee, Mavis and Aya Liu, who sometimes called themselves the Four Sisters (四姐妹) and performed together, released two songs, "Girls' Party" (姐妹們的聚會) in 2001 and "Girls Journey" (姐妹們的旅行) in 2019, both celebrating their friendship. Outside of her group activities, Hsu sporadically released songs, such as the duet "Let Me Love You" (讓我愛你) with Vic Chou, the single "Diamond" (鑽石) with her own lyrics, and the duet "Sweetheart" (心肝寶貝) with Richie Jen, which served as the theme songs for the TV dramas Mars (2004), Summer's Desire (2010) and the film Adventure of the King (2010), respectively. She appeared in music videos, such as Shin's “Before the Dawn” (黎明之前), Show Lo's “Self-Hypnosis” (自我催眠) and “Waist Support” (撐腰). She also wrote lyrics for other singers such as Mavis Fan, Josie Ho, and Dee. In 2015, Barbie and Dee reunited for their breakout song, “Ten-Minute Love,” at the live house Legacy Taipei during Dee’s first solo concert.
As an actor, Hsu rose to pan-Asian fame with her leading role of Dong Shan Cai in Meteor Garden (2001) along with boy group F4. Besides the Chinese-speaking world, the show brought her fame in South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, with many countries producing remakes in the following years, including Japan's Boys Over Flowers (2005), South Korea's Boys Over Flowers (2009), United States's Boys Before Friends (2013), and India's Kaisi Yeh Yaariaan (2014–). The show earned her a nomination for the Best Actress at the 36th Golden Bell Awards and is credited with ushering in the idol drama genre and the golden era of Taiwanese TV shows. After a sequel Meteor Garden II (2002), Hsu went on to star in TV dramas such as Eternity: A Chinese Ghost Story (2003), Mars (2004), where she reunited with F4 member Vic Chou, Corner with Love (2007), and Summer's Desire (2010), becoming known as the first "Queen of Idol Dramas."
Hsu transitioned into films later in her career but found less success compared to television. Her first starring role in a feature film came with the Chinese horror film The Ghost Inside (2005), followed by the Taiwanese films Silk (2006) and My So-Called Love (2008). She broke into Hong Kong film industry with Connected (2008), a remake of the Hollywood thriller Cellular (2004), for which she received a nomination for the Best Actress at the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards. However, for her three films in one year, Future X-Cops (2010), Reign of Assassins (2010), and Adventure of the King (2010), Hsu received the Most Dissapointing Actress at the 2nd Golden Broom Awards. The reasoning given was: “Hsu’s acting is confusing, with her laughing resembling crying and crying resembling laughing. Her performance feels too modern, overly exaggerated, and lacks emotional depth.” For her performance in the monster film Croczilla (2012), she received the only acting award of her career, the Best Actress award at the 4th Macau International Movie Festival, without prior knowledge of the nomination or an invitation to the ceremony. Despite criticism regarding her performances and perceived lack of bankability as a movie star, retrospective evaluations of her work improved after she withdrew from acting, recognizing her as one of the few actresses whose film career spanned Greater China, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China.
In addition to acting, Hsu published a beauty guide Beauty Queen (美容大王) in 2004, followed by a sequel in 2007. Both books became bestsellers across the Chinese-speaking world and played a major role in popularizing brands such as Kiehl’s and SK-II in China, though some of the beauty ideals and techniques they introduced were subject to re-evaluation in later years. Among the many beauty tips she popularized—both in her books and beyond—were the "red wine facial mask" and the use of the hair-loss treatment Rogaine to thicken eyebrows. She co-wrote SOS Chao Meng Qing Chun (SOS超猛青春; 1996) and SOS Tokyo Shopping Map (SOS東京拚裝大地圖; 1998) with Dee, the former about their teenage years and the latter a Japanese fashion and travel guide. She also published Penny Dreadful (蝴蝶飛了; 2005), a collection of poems, and Lao Niang Jia Dao (老娘駕到; 2015), a memoir about motherhood for her first child.
After marrying Chinese entrepreneur Wang Xiaofei in late 2010, Hsu decided to withdraw from acting, except for filming her last film My Kingdom (2011) at Wang’s encouragement, as the director Gao Xiaosong was his friend. The film, however, underperformed at the box office amid Gao’s DUI scandal, which drew attention as he became the first public figure in China to be sentenced for drunk driving. Hsu subsequently retired from acting in 2011, with several attempts to return in the following years thwarted by pregnancy, health issues, and the declining opportunities for middle-aged actresses. Her last attempt at acting was a role she volunteered for to support Angie Chai, the producer of Meteor Garden, when Chai’s Taiwanese adaptation of the K-drama Our Blues (2022) reportedly fell through in 2024. Hsu continued to appear in variety shows and advertisements: from 2011 to 2012, she served as a stand-in host for Dee during the latter's maternity leave on the variety-comedy talk show Kangsi Coming, where Barbie also frequently appeared as a guest over the years. Since 2017, she had collaborated with the Italian brand C&C Gioielli to design and co-brand a jewelry line. In 2018, she participated in her final film, reprising her role of Elastigirl as a voice actress in Taiwan's dubbed version of the Pixar animated film Incredibles 2. That same year, she hosted Chinese variety show Miss Beauty (Season 1) (Beauty小姐) and participated in the marriage reality show Happiness Trio (Season 1) (幸福三重奏) with her then husband Wang Xiaofei. In 2019, she participated in the Chinese reality dating series Dream Space (Season 2) (戀夢空間) as a commentator and in the travelogue series We Are Real Friends (我們是真正的朋友) with Dee, Mavis Fan and Aya Liu. She co-produced the web show Dee's Talk [zh] (2021–2022) hosted by Dee.
Hsu’s first love began in 1994 with a senior who was two years ahead of her at the Taipei Hwa Kang Arts School and lasted for three years until her graduation. She then dated Blackie Chen, after which they remained close friends. From late 1998 to 2000, she dated South Korean singer Koo Jun-yup, member of Clon. They broke up due to the "dating ban" by Koo's agency. She dated actor Lan Cheng-lung from 2001 to 2005, followed by a two-year relationship with actor Vic Chou until early 2008.
In 2010, while filming Croczilla, Hsu suffered from radial nerve inflammation and was introduced to an acupuncturist in Beijing by Ady An, who subsequently invited her to two parties at LAN Club, where Hsu met the club’s owner, Wang Xiaofei, the son of Zhang Lan, founder of the South Beauty restaurant group, on both occasions. The two fell in love at first sight, and after their second meeting on An’s birthday, Hsu invited Wang to her own birthday party in Taipei. After meeting a total of four times, Wang confessed his love by proposing to Hsu in Beijing, as he explained in his autobiography, Born in 1981 (2019):
After an expeditious engagement ceremony where they bought Tiffany rings at Wangfujing and sharing mutton hotpot with friends at Houhai, Hsu and Wang registered their marriage on November 16, 2010 in Beijing, with wedding rings designed by Wang with the help of jewellery designer Wan Baobao, the granddaughter of Wan Li. They held their wedding banquet in Sanya, Hainan on 22 March 2011, followed by a week-long honeymoon in Bhutan. Just four days before their wedding, Hsu underwent a secret surgery following a miscarriage, prompting her to keep the highly anticipated event private from the media—a decision that led to a PR crisis, as the media remained unaware of the reason until she revealed it in 2024.
Hsu’s "flash marriage" left a surprisingly long-lasting legacy in the Chinese media landscape. In November 2010, the intense discussions of her marriage in the "Kangsi Coming Group" on Douban led to a splinter group, the "Gossip Coming Group," specifically centered on the event. Over time, the latter grew into one of the most active and chaotic forums on the Chinese Internet and was rebranded as the "Goose Group" in 2018 until the government ban in 2022. Zhang Lan, Hsu's mother-in-law, falsely claimed that the wedding was sponsored by Wanda Group, prompting Wang Sicong, son of Wanda's founder, to publicly refute her claims and rise to prominence as a media personality over the following decade, during which he often mocked Hsu and Wang, until he was banned on Weibo for his criticism of the Chinese government's COVID policy. Charles Zhang, CEO of Sohu and a wedding guest, live-blogged the private event without permission on Sohu Weibo to drive traffic in the microblogging turf war, sparking a feud with the couple that lasted until his reconciliation with Wang Xiaofei in 2015. After Zhang Lan’s Douyin account was banned in 2025 following Hsu’s death for spreading misinformation about her, Charles invited her to Sohu’s livestreaming platform in a new round of the livestreaming turf war.
After Hsu married Wang, she ended her 13 years of vegetarianism, which she had adopted in hopes of one of her pet dogs recovering from an illness, primarily under pressure from Wang and his mother Zhang Lan, who believed that vegetarianism was detrimental to fertility, despite Hsu's elder sister is also a vegetarian and mother. Hsu resided briefly in Beijing with Wang before returning to Taipei; for most of their marriage, Wang commuted between Beijing and Taipei, with Hsu’s refusal to relocate to Beijing being a major point of contention between them. They had two children: a daughter born in April 2014 and a son born in May 2016, both born and raised in Taipei. One month into her first pregnancy—short of the three-month mark traditionally observed in Taiwan before announcing a pregnancy—Hsu revealed the news to the media as an effort to divert attention from the Top Pot Bakery scandal involving Dee’s family. In 2018, Hsu underwent surgery following her second miscarriage, eight days before she began filming the marriage reality show Happiness Trio (Season 1) with Wang.
In the late 2010s, Hsu and Wang's marriage had been increasingly beset by rumors of Wang's affairs and his outspoken nationalism regarding China's unification with Taiwan. In February 2021, Hsu requested a divorce and initiated negotiations with Wang, who sought reconciliation. They briefly reconciled until June, when during China's zero-Covid period reports emerged that two passengers had tested positive for COVID-19 in Xiamen after departing from Taiwan—one of whom had been allowed to board by Taiwan's Uni Air despite a positive test result—prompting Wang to harshly criticize on Weibo Taiwan's pandemic policies, shortage of vaccinations affecting his family in Taipei, as well as the island's growing pro-independence and anti-China sentiment, referring to some Taiwanese as "hanjian." Hsu then disclosed to Taiwanese media that she was divorcing Wang, whose remarks she declined to comment on, though both Wang and Hsu's mother denied the divorce then. On November 22, 2021, Hsu and Wang officially announced their divorce.
After her divorce, Hsu and Koo Jun-yup rekindled their relationship. They registered their marriage on February 8, 2022, in South Korea and on March 28 in Taiwan without a wedding ceremony, except for matching wedding ring tattoos by Koo. In November 2022, Hsu sought enforcement of spousal maintenance at the Taipei District Court against Wang, claiming he had failed to honor their divorce agreement since March of that year. Triggered by Hsu’s legal action, Wang took their dispute public by disclosing the terms of their divorce and financial details, as well as harshly attacking Hsu and her family—including Koo, Dee and Dee's husband—on Weibo. Wang accused Dee of encouraging Barbie’s divorce out of jealousy, implying that Dee wanted to sabotage her sister’s marriage because Dee had endured habitual infidelity from her husband, Mike Xu, who purchased a property in Shanghai for his extramarital relationships, using Wang’s funds paid by Hsu after Xu discovered Dee’s affair with a dance instructor. Wang also claimed that he continued to pay child support and Hsu’s personal maintenance but no longer wished to cover her family expenses—primarily the NT$40,000 monthly electricity bill for the house he had previously shared with Hsu, which she now shared with Koo—after Hsu remarried. He also accused Hsu of spending millions of New Taiwan dollars each month on luxury goods using his credit card post-divorce, including buying gifts for Koo, and parts of the outfit she wore in her remarriage photos with Koo. Hsu denied using Wang’s card to buy gifts for Koo and sued Wang for violating Taiwan's Personal Data Protection Act by disclosing her address and bank information.
In the following years, Hsu and Wang were embroiled in a high-profile legal battle, marked by bitter online exchanges and sparking wide-ranging public discussions on sexism, misinformation, and cross-strait relations. Meanwhile, Wang repeatedly proposed remarriage but was rejected by Hsu. Both accused each other of infidelity and domestic abuse during their marriage. Actress Zhang Yingying, whom Hsu claimed had begun a relationship with Wang before his divorce, ended her relationship with Wang in 2023 amid an acrimonious breakup and disapproval from Wang’s mother. After Hsu's death, Zhang stated that Wang had been unfaithful since the second year of his marriage to Hsu, and “all the harm [Hsu] suffered was caused by him.” Wang and his mother accused Barbie and Dee of abusing drugs and supporting Taiwan independence, which the sisters denied, while Hsu claimed that Wang owed her over NT$100 million, which she had lent to him in 2018 for his business. In March 2024, when asked whether their highly publicized divorce—sometimes seen as a symbolic end of the honeymoon period in cross-strait relations—would worsen relations, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office commented, “People on both sides of the strait are one family, and cross-strait marriages bring us even closer.” However, regarding the “rare cases of failed marriages,” the parties involved should “part on good terms and go their separate ways in peace.”
In February 2023, Hsu filed lawsuits in China against Wang for defamation and invasion of privacy, and against Zhang for online infringement liability; Hsu later applied for injunctions against Wang and Zhang. On August 19, 2024, the Beijing Internet Court granted Hsu's injunctions by prohibiting Wang and Zhang from publishing Hsu's personal information online, but dismissed Hsu's appeal to shut down their social media accounts. The injunctions would remain in effect until the court renders a final judgment, but Wang and Zhang effectively ignored them by continuing posting about Hsu online. At the time of Hsu's death on 2 February 2025, her lawsuits in Taiwan against Wang over matrimonial assets and violations of the Personal Data Protection Act remained unresolved, while the judgement from the Beijing Internet Court had yet to be issued.
Hsu was known for her interest in beauty treatments, particularly hair care, skin whitening, and weight loss. She earned the nickname "Beauty Queen" after her best-selling beauty guide series of the same name. An avid shopaholic, she boasted a collection of over 700 pairs of high heels. Hsu was a fan of sci-fi, the supernatural and the UFOs and a member of Taiwan UFOlogy Society, with a tattoo of hexagram on the back of her neck as the symbol of Raëlism. Hsu was a lifelong fan of Takuya Kimura since junior high school, inspiring her to learn Japanese and briefly pursue a career in Japan in 1995.
Hsu was an active supporter of charity over the years, particularly advocating for women's and children's rights, LGBT rights, and animal rights. She was one of the first major celebrities to collaborate with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Hsu was one of the first Taiwanese celebrities to publicly discuss mental health, including her battle with depression in 2000, from which she recovered after one year. She also had a long history of anorexia. Hsu experienced two miscarriages. In 2011, she had to terminate her pregnancy due to fetal demise, and in 2018, while pregnant with her third child, she underwent an abortion after the embryo stopped developing. In 2017, after being hospitalized following a fainting episode, Hsu revealed that she had a pre-existing condition of mitral valve prolapse and a history of epilepsy, including a near-fatal episode during the birth of her son in 2016.
On 29 January 2025, during the Chinese New Year holiday, Hsu traveled with her family to Japan where she caught influenza. She died in Tokyo on 2 February, at the age of 48. The cause of death, according to her family, was pneumonia stemming from influenza complications, while some reports speculated septic shock, which can also be caused by pneumonia. News of Hsu’s death was first heavily hinted at by a Hong Kong travel influencer on his Facebook page before her family’s announcement. His page was later taken down amid backlash over the premature disclosure and perceived attention-seeking.
On 3 February, Hsu's ex-husband, Wang Xiaofei, who claimed to have suffered a breakdown, along with a recurrence of depression and worsening bipolar disorder following Hsu's death, arrived in Taipei with his wife, Mandy Ma, a Taiwanese medical aesthetics consultant, from their Chinese New Year holiday in Thailand. That evening, Wang walked to his home in Taipei for half an hour in the rain. On 4 February, Wang left emotional messages on Douyin clips of the marriage reality show Happiness Trio featuring him and Hsu, including "My wife, I miss you" and "I'm the one who should be dead." Hsu's remains were cremated in Japan and her ashes, carried in a pink urn, were returned to Taiwan on a flight chartered by Dee on 5 February. On 7 February, Hsu's widower, Koo Jun-yup, issued a statement, relinquishing his share of spousal legacy to Hsu's mother while vowed to protect the shares of Hsu's two children. He also condemned Wang for "pretending to be sad while walking in the rain", saying “[p]eople are trying to tarnish my family by spreading false rumors about the insurance and expenses, causing pain to our family," referring to the misinformation that Wang had paid for the chartered flight bringing Hsu's ashes from Japan to Taiwan and that Koo had taken out a large life insurance policy on Hsu. "It’s terrifying to realize that such cruel people really exist in this world,” Koo wrote.
Hsu’s sudden death led to a surge in demand for influenza vaccinations in Taiwan and other parts of Asia, as well as an outpouring of memorials. On 5 February, K-pop singer Sandara Park performed the song "Ni Yao De Ai" (你要的愛) from Meteor Garden's OST in Hsu's honor during Taiwan's Kaohsiung New Year's Eve Party. On 14 February, Taiwanese singer and actor Show Lo performed "Ai Zhuan Jiao" (愛轉角), the theme song of Corner With Love (2007), in which he starred alongside Hsu, at his Tokyo concert in her honor. On February 15, K-pop singer Rain led his audience in observing a 10-second moment of silence at his Kaohsiung concert in her honor, referring to her as "sister-in-law" as he is a sworn brother of Koo. On 22 February, Malaysian singer Penny Tai, the singer-songwriter of "Ni Yao De Ai", performed the song in Hsu's honor at her Shanghai concert. Christine Fan, who along with her husband Blackie Chen had faced cyberbullying over speculation that they had infected Hsu with influenza at a banquet on January 15, refuted the claim by sharing her chat history with a doctor. On 15 March, Fan dedicated to Hsu performances of "One is the Fall, the Other is the Summer" (一個像夏天一個像秋天) and "Those Flowers" (那些花兒) at a compilation concert in Nanning, and "Can We Not Be Brave" (可不可以不勇敢) at the opening concert of her tour in Shanghai. Other celebrities who mourned her included Huang Xiaoming, Peter Ho, Jacky Wu, Rainie Yang, Lin Chi-ling, Louis Koo, Andy Lau, and Michelle Yeoh. A Chinese fan sponsored a billboard tribute for her in New York’s Times Square, while plazas and shopping malls across China, both independently and through sponsorships, displayed memorial messages on their billboards. Raffles City Shanghai was reportedly flagged and removed its memorial messages, including Hsu’s 2013 Weibo post—written two years into her first marriage—“I must find myself again. So should you,” ahead of International Women’s Day, a time when Chinese authorities are particularly sensitive to feminist messaging. However, China Central Place in Beijing also featured the quote as part of its International Women’s Day celebrations.
No memorial was held by Hsu’s family, in accordance with her preference to "keep a low profile." On 8 February, the first seventh-day memorial (頭七) after Hsu’s death, family and friends gathered at her home under the theme of her “third wedding anniversary,” sharing cake and champagne and refraining from tears, honoring her farewell wishes. Hsu was initially announced to have a tree burial per her wishes, but was later laid to rest at Chin Pao San Cemetery in New Taipei City on 15 March, as her widower, Koo, sought to provide a memorial site for family and friends to pay their visits. Hsu’s estate, estimated at NT$ 600 million, were settled in early March and equally divided among Koo and her two children. Koo, who had pledged his inheritance to Hsu's mother, reportedly accepted the tentative arrangement as the right to inheritance is not transferrable under Taiwanese law. Since Hsu's children are still minors, their inheritance shares and guardianship will be managed by their biological father, Wang, until they reach adulthood.
Hsu spoke about death throughout her career, shaped by her early struggles with depression and a host of health issues she had after marriage, embodying a philosophical and completely at-ease outlook. At the time of her death, her WeChat signature read: "Death is inevitable." In one of her interviews most quoted after she died, she said: "I came into this world to live life on fast-forward. In this lifetime, I am meant to experience what others would in eight. Once I have lived it all, I won’t need to return in the next."
As a group, Barbie and Dee have been famously referred to as "The Truman Show of Taiwan" by Kevin Tsai due to their extensive public exposure from a young age, both on and off screen, and the strong parasocial relationship they built with audiences through their variety shows. In later years, as their family matters increasingly made headlines and obssessed social media, the Hsu family was also, at times pejoratively, compared to the Kardashian family of the Chinese world. Barbie and Dee are especially popular among women, urban dwellers and the LGBTQ community, of which they were also among the earliest public supporters in the Chinese-speaking world, including advocating for same-sex marriage on their show in the early 2000s. On the other hand, their shows sometimes sparked controversy with their no-holds-barred topics and alleged insensitivity toward Taiwan's local traditions and culture, including glove puppetry and Southern Min dialect, which are closely associated with the pan-Green Coalition—contrasting with their pan-Blue background.
As a public figure, Hsu was often described as "brave," "kind," "true to herself," drawing comparisons to the "chivalrous women," the heroines of kung fu films. A leader and protector of her family and friends, she was known for standing up to her father’s domestic abuse on behalf of her mother while growing up, shielding her younger sister—first in school, later in the industry—and, in one of her most well-known stories, intervening in a case of child abuse by a triad member after hearing a child crying as she passed by their home. She was also known for being "daring in love and hate," a phrase often used to characterize her high-profile romantic life and two "flash marriages." Her friends and family often described her as being "ging,” a Southern Min dialect word meaning “tense and unable to relax,” reflecting her strict self-discipline and perfectionism on and off screen. Hsu's bold opinions and sharp sense of humor occasionally sparked controversy. As she explained one of her controversial jokes from 100% Entertainment on Kangsi Coming: “Little S told me that every time she saw me lying at home with depression, she was terrified that I might grab a knife and kill her. So I jokingly said, ‘If I were to kill someone, I’d start with mom.’ I was really just kidding, but because I happened to be struggling with depression at the time, everyone thought I actually wanted to kill my mom.”
Hsu’s romantic life was highly publicized, partly due to her unusually open and candid attitude, which was rare as a celebrity idol in Asia. Her relationships were often perceived as being marked by her dominant and, at times, emasculating presence due to her fame and personality—a dynamic acknowledged by Vic Chou as a factor in their breakup and cited by her former mother-in-law, Zhang Lan, as a reason for Hsu's divorce from Wang Xiaofei. Her relationship with Blackie Chen remained relatively unknown, primarily because it took place before either of them rose to fame. Her relationships with Lan Cheng-lung and Vic Chou, both her Meteor Garden co-stars, were generally well-received by idol drama fans. Hsu's marriage with Wang, at the height of his family business South Beauty, was initially characterized as her "marrying rich," drawing scrutiny for her perceived displays of extravagance, especially her lavish wedding in Sanya, which was held mainly at Wang's insistence. Taiwan's Want Daily hailed their marriage as a milestone reshaping cross-strait marriage narratives, challenging stereotypes of economically disadvantaged Mainland brides marrying into Taiwan, where discrimination against cross-strait marriages prevailed, and promoting greater equality amid China’s economic rise. Since 2015, when South Beauty faced fraud allegations and went into receivership, Wang increasingly leveraged Hsu’s fame for his business, registering multiple trademarks related to her during their marriage. In 2017, Wang opened the S Hotel in Taipei, which was named after "Big S" with a budget of NT$350 million; the hotel was renamed in March 2024 as Mgallery after their divorce and was closed in August that same year. Hsu's divorce battle with Wang—sometimes seen as a symbolic end of the honeymoon period in cross-strait relations—positioned her as both a sympathetic figure and a feminist icon among younger, urban, and more progressive circles, while drawing criticism from conservative segments, particularly among some married women and the older generation. In addition, her once union with a Chinese businessman who has been vocally pro-unification solidified her as a persona non grata among Taiwan's pro-independence pan-Green Coalition, who criticized her for donating masks to mainland China during the COVID-19 pandemic and, among some pan-Green influencers, gloated over her death or spread conspiracy theories about it.
Hsu’s marriage to Koo Jun-yup, four months after her divorce, was widely celebrated in South Korea and Taiwan, where it was portrayed as a fairy-tale reunion. According to Koo, after reading news of Hsu’s divorce, he called a phone number he had kept for 20 years, only to discover that she had never changed it. However, her second marriage proved as polarizing as her divorce in China, where Wang and his mother alleged that Hsu and Koo had engaged in an affair prior to her divorce, portraying Koo—perceived in China as less affluent or famous—as a “gold digger” and “freeloader” for marrying Hsu and moving into the house that Wang had provided. A media frenzy erupted when Wang publicly urged Koo to replace the bed mattress, which Hsu ultimately returned to the S Hotel and had destroyed live on Taiwanese television. Following her death, a divisive debate emerged over whether Hsu could have been saved if Wang had been present, given his prior experience in managing her health crises—which Hsu publicly acknowledged as having saved her life “many times”—his public concerns over her possible death due to her fragile health which her family downplayed after their divorce, and his more assertive, intense personality compared to the rest of her family, including her second husband, where Hsu typically took the lead. Hsu’s agent, Angelina Liao—who had been sued by Wang for defamation during the divorce battle before the case was dismissed—stated that Hsu’s mother believed the three-year marriage with Koo was “the happiest time” in Hsu’s life.
In her remembrance, Tencent Entertainment called her a "cyber bestie of a generation," noting the "vibrant" and "entertaining" presence she and her sister brought to the Chinese-speaking world more than two decades ago remains unrivaled. Sanlian Lifeweek called her an “entertainment queen" while reflecting on the burdens of her relentless determination throughout her tumultuous childhood, career and marriage: "Though she never wished to reveal her struggles, never showed weakness, and never lost control in public, the experiences she endured over the years laid bare the challenges she faced as a woman [...] Beyond her iconic role as Shan Cai, her greatest performance was playing herself. If being a celebrity were a profession, she had fulfilled her duty with unwavering dedication—right up until her final moment." Writer Huang Tongtong summarized Hsu’s life as the "lifelong forced resilience of East Asian women," describing how she became the protector of her mother and sisters in "a deeply patriarchal family" and a survivor in the cutthroat entertainment industry, both from a young age: "She had no choice but to turn herself into a lone wolf—trusting no one but herself, relying on no one but herself. In many ways, her relentless drive, her desperate efforts, and her habit of living each day as if it were her last became an unshakable fixation in her life."
In Initium Media, critics Jia Xuanning and Yang Buhuan offered differing perspectives on Hsu’s legacy. Jia noted that Hsu, with her sister, pushed the boundaries of traditional Chinese femininity, demonstrating that women could be "unruly, funny, and sharp-tongued" while freely expressing their emotions. Yang critiqued the dominant memorial narratives, arguing that they placed greater emphasis on Hsu’s relationships and family over her professional achievements, romanticizing both her entanglements with Wang through tragic romance tropes and the circumstances of her death: "Drawing from Hsu’s approach to life, her views on death, and her proactive and eventful romantic history, some articles have portrayed her death as that of a kung fu heroine—departing with no regrets, young, beautiful, and carefree, as if she had merely taken a fleeting journey through this world. However, this is a perspective I personally cannot accept. A woman of such deep emotions and passion endured over a decade of infidelity and domestic violence. After finally breaking free, she had only three short years to explore a new life—years in which she was relentlessly subjected to slander and humiliation from the outside world," referring to her acrimonious and polarizing divorce. Yang concluded: "If there is any solace to be found in her passing, I believe the most genuine comfort lies in what one netizen put so poignantly: 'Her final years of resistance and defiance won her the chance to return to her maternal, matrilineal family—to be cared for, and to pass with dignity.'”
In The Straits Times, Jan Lee called Hsu “the TV big sister,” referring to her strong parasocial presence for a generation of audience, while reflecting on Hsu’s beauty legacy: “She was also the first celebrity I remember who was honest about what she did to look good. As a self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Beauty,’ who released books about skincare and beauty treatments, she talked openly about Botox and Thermage and admitted to always being hungry to maintain her svelte figure. I don’t think all her methods were healthy, but I liked that she did not sell me a fantasy.” Luo Beibei, a popular independent entertainment writer in China, observed that while Hsu’s beauty standards may be debated today, "[her] same ideas have ignited conversation in every era—that’s what it means to be truly influential. Perspectives change over time, but one thing about Hsu never did: her extraordinary will and the determination to see things through. Whatever she set her mind to, she pursued with unwavering resolve—becoming beautiful, becoming a star, love and marriage, children, family, turning domestic life into captivating storytelling… And then, divorce. Followed by a remarriage so swift and unexpected after being applauded for her divorce that the world could barely process it, when she told the world that it was a love story two decades in the making." After Hsu's death, Luo launched an online campaign calling for the ban of Zhang Lan's and Wang Xiaofei’s Douyin accounts, which some credited as a contributing factor in the platform’s decision to take action.
Kevin Tsai, a close friend to the Hsu sisters, compared Hsu's passing to an unfinished fairy tale, which echoes a widespread sentiment online: “Someone once worked so hard to pursue happiness, and after enjoying it for a while, that happiness came to an end. It’s like flipping through a fairy tale, expecting to see the page where the princess and the prince live happily ever after, but that page was never printed—you just turn to a blank page. It’s so shocking, like, ‘This isn’t what you promised me.’” Southern People Weekly compared the significance of Shan Cai to Jane Eyre for Hsu’s generation, drawing parallels between Hsu’s life and her iconic character: "While they undoubtedly embodied pioneering attitudes and perspectives, they were also constantly restrained by traditional values," the article observed, identifying Hsu’s marriage to Wang as a watershed moment, after which she put her career on hold as she navigated family drama and health struggles stemming from her pursuit of motherhood. "Yet, it is precisely because of her complexity, contradictions, and limitations that we love her—and love Shan Cai." Meng Jing, an independent entertainment writer and former reporter of Sanlian Lifeweek, noted Hsu as the "backbone" of the “last matrilineal family”: “The Hsu mother and daughters spent their lives both upholding tradition and, at times, resisting it when it threatened to crush them. [...] They were not the fearless, independent heroines of empowerment narratives—there was compliance, hesitation, and entanglement. They never delivered the dramatic slaps to their men that some might have found satisfying, leaving those observers frustrated by their lack of defiance, while others resented them for not fully submitting. But that is real life. The charm of the Hsu sisters lies in how every chapter of their lives resonates with so many people—because when a story is too triumphant, it leaves no room for you to see yourself in it.”
In February 2000, Barbie and Dee sparked controversy on their show 100% Entertainment when they talked about Legend of the Sacred Stone (2000), Taiwan's first glove puppetry film. Barbie said: “Setting aside the serious topic of whether or not to support domestic films, I personally find glove puppetry unbearably awful… Sure, it may be considered part of China’s cultural heritage, but at the end of the day, it’s just puppets! You could just pick up a doll at home and perform the same thing… I honestly hate glove puppetry! The same goes for things like shadow puppetry and marionette shows—I hate them all.” It was widely misreported that they called fans of glove puppetry "lunatics." They apologized after facing backlash from fans of glove puppetry, which is closely tied to Taiwan’s local identity and pan-Green Coalition, in contrast to their own perceived association with the waishengren, pan-Blue Coalition.
On January 27, 2020, during the early outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when most countries prioritized domestic mask supplies and Taiwan imposed a mask export ban from 24 January to 23 February (later extending to June), Hsu and her then-husband, Wang Xiaofei, donated 10,000 masks purchased from Japan to Wuhan, sparking criticism from internet users in both Japan and Taiwan. Three days later, on January 30, Wang announced that an additional 10,000 masks, originally intended for donation to mainland China, would instead be donated to Taiwan due to Taiwan’s mask export ban, sparking criticism from internet users in China.
In June 2021, one week after she disclosed that she was divorcing from Wang, Hsu posted an Instagram story stating, “My Weibo account has been blocked, and my IG has been suspended! I just want to say: We are being massacred! Tsai! Massacring us,” followed by “Isn’t this a massacre?” She later added, “Um… Weibo and IG are actually fine… I just don’t know how to use them… But I stand by what I said!” Through her manager, Hsu clarified that she was wondering, “When will all 23 million people in Taiwan finally have access to vaccines? We're not guinea pigs! Our lives matter too!” The comments were widely interpreted as criticism of the Tsai Ing-wen administration over its delayed rollout of vaccine distribution in Taiwan.
For three years after Hsu’s divorce from Wang Xiaofei until her death, Wang’s mother, Zhang Lan, leveraged abrasive parodies and sensational rumors about Hsu and the Hsu family in her Douyin livestreaming e-commerce, generating high traffic but also fueling intense controversy over alleged sexism, misinformation, and cyberbullying—including with Wang, who publicly severed ties with his mother three times over the same period, primarily due to her exploitation of Hsu in her livestreams. In May 2024, after Zhang claimed that Hsu's son had been expelled from school, Hsu refuted on Weibo, saying that she had filed for an injunction with the Beijing Internet Court over Zhang while appealing to the court, the All-China Women's Federation, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and Douyin to take action over Zhang's repeated spreading of false information. On August 19, 2024, the court granted Hsu’s injunction, which Zhang effectively ignored the same day by posting a video in which a female host suggested Hsu—without naming her—meant to send Zhang and Wang to jail and questioned her fitness as a mother due to her remarriage with Koo three months after her divorce. The case was heard twice in court but had not reached a verdict by the time of Hsu’s death in February, 2025.
After Hsu’s death, Zhang’s godson, Xia Jian, falsely claimed on Douyin that Wang had paid for the chartered flight carrying Hsu’s ashes from Japan to Taiwan, with Zhang endorsing his video. After Dee, who paid for the flight, and the flight company denied Xia's claims, on February 8, 2025, Hsu’s first seventh-day memorial (頭七), Douyin indefinitely banned the accounts of Wang, Zhang, and Xia for spreading misinformation and "disrespect for the deceased," with the endorsement by Chinese state media, including the Guangming Daily. Both Zhang and Wang contested the ban, with Wang claiming that he never spread misinformation. However, Zhang later approved of the ban, describing it as a way to “protect” her. Zhang continued to livestream on TikTok, Douyin's international version, and opened new accounts through her team on Douyin and other platforms. Following Douyin, Weibo removed over 2,100 posts about Hsu containing "the falsehoods from external sites" and imposed penalties on over 100 accounts, including the suspension of live-streaming on Zhang's account. On 2 March, Kuaishou banned Wang and Zhang from posting videos on their accounts.
Hsu was accused by multiple people of drug use, but none was confirmed. After their divorce, Hsu's ex-husband Wang Xiaofei repeatedly accused Hsu of the misuse of the sedative Stilnox through others' prescriptions, for which he used to pay over NT$1 million each month. According to Hsu, Wang’s allegation— for which he apologized to her after first making it in May 2022— was made in retaliation for her refusal to falsely assert to the public that he had remained faithful during their marriage. On March 22, 2023, the anniversary of their wedding, Wang twice attempted to forcibly enter Hsu's residence in Taipei. He was taken away after the security reported to the police. At the police station, he told the police and media that his children are being "illegally detained and withheld" by Hsu and he intended to file a report accusing Hsu of abusing Stilnox; however, he left the police station without providing evidence or filing a report.
In June 2023, following multiple women's allegations of sexual misconduct against Mickey Huang, Dee's ex-boyfriend, Huang retaliated by exposing multiple Taiwanese celebrities, including accusing Barbie and Dee of drug use. The Hsu sisters issued a joint statement expressing regret over Huang's unstable emotional state and refuting the drug use allegation, stating that one of Huang's allegded events, “Barbie was not even present at the scene.” They also noted that the court had ruled in 2004 against a Next Magazine's report on Dee's alleged drug use, “legally clearing Dee’s name.” In light of Huang's report, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office investigated the Hsu sisters by collecting their hair and urine samples, which tested positive for sedatives such as Stilnox. However, the substances detected were consistent with their prescribed medications from regular outpatient visits. As no criminal offenses were found, the case was closed without charges in May 2024.
In June 2023, shortly after Huang's allegations, paparazzo Ge Siqi claimed on a television program that he had heard from sources about a drug dealer supplying narcotics to the Hsu sisters. In response, Barbie and Dee filed a civil lawsuit against Ge, seeking NT$2 million each in damages. In November, the Taipei District Court ruled that Ge lacked sufficient evidence and ordered him to pay NT$300,000 to each sister. Ge later stated that he lost the case because he refused to disclose his sources. Ge's compensation was ultimately covered by Wang Xiaofei.
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