Taiwanese celebrities on Feb 3 expressed their shock at the sudden death of actress Barbie Hsu after she came down with influenza-related pneumonia in Japan.

Many of them took to social media to mourn the 48-year-old, who was best known for playing feisty Shancai in the hit Taiwanese idol drama Meteor Garden (2001 to 2002).

Actor Ken Chu, currently based in China, portrayed the playboy Ximen in Meteor Garden. He expressed the feelings of many when he wrote on Chinese social media platform Weibo: “Alas, a bolt from the blue” together with three folded hands emojis.

Singer-actress Rainie Yang made her acting debut as Shancai’s good friend Xiaoyou in Meteor Garden. She wrote on Instagram Stories: “Thank you for everything, Shi-yuan. I will always miss you and love you.” Shi-yuan is the Chinese name of Hsu, who is also known by her stage name “Big S”.

Yang, 40, said in previous media reports that Hsu was her acting senior who had supported her both in public and in private after their first TV serial together.

Yang later co-hosted the popular variety show Guess Guess Guess (1996 to 2011). The show was initially co-hosted by Hsu and her younger sister Dee Hsu, who were once part of the pop duo Asos.

TV host Aya Liu, another co-host of Guess Guess Guess, also mourned Barbie Hsu on social media.

“When we met up last month, we did a calculation and found out that we had known each other for more than 30 years,” the 46-year-old wrote on Weibo. “We sa...