Taiwanese artist Shu Qi, who is 48 years old this year, took to Instagram on the 20th to share her personal information, revealing that search engines display her age as 50, which is 2 years older than her actual age. While she personally doesn’t see much difference between being 48 and 50, she explained that she felt the need to clarify the discrepancy after her company received criticisms from fans.
Shu Qi addressed the controversy of her age being falsely increased by 2 years, saying, “Actually, to me, being 48 or 50 doesn’t make much difference. But because people kept saying my company was not responding, I had to help clarify for them. I’ve already reached out multiple times in the past half year to correct this, but for some reason, it keeps being reverted back.”
In response, Shu Qi reminded the media not to rely on incorrect information and humorously added, “Otherwise, if I can get 20 years younger in age, that’s also acceptable for me!”
Currently, search engines still show Shu Qi’s age as 50, born on April 16, 1974, this year. However, Wikipedia displays her correct birth year as 1976, making her 48 years old this year.
With nearly 30 years in the film industry, Shu Qi has garnered critical acclaim for her performances in movies like “Viva Erotica,” “Millennium Mambo,” “Three Times,” “If You Are the One,” “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons,” “The Assassin,” and “The Village of No Return,” earning seven nominations for Best Leading Actress at the Golden Horse Awards and winning Best Leading Actress for “Three Times” in 2005. She has also been nominated multiple times at the Hong Kong Film Awards, winning accolades for “Best New Performer” and “Best Supporting Actress.”
Last year, Shu Qi served as a judge at the 80th Venice Film Festival, becoming the third Chinese actress after Gong Li and Maggie Cheung to complete the “triple crown” of judging major competitions at the top three European film festivals. Recent reports have stated that the “50-year-old Golden Horse-winning actress Shu Qi transitions from acting to directing,” as she has completed filming her first self-written and directed film, “Girl.” It is estimated that this recent report prompted her to discover the error regarding her age in the media.
Errors in celebrity information are not uncommon, with examples like Hong Kong actress Fiona Yuen (*Liang Liang*), who years ago appeared on a Chinese variety show discussing how to distinguish between true and false online information. She used her own experience as an example, revealing that although she started working after finishing high school, online searches would falsely state that she graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s design department, which is completely untrue as she never attended college there.
Despite knowing the misinformation online, including erroneous listings on platforms like Baidu Baike in China, Fiona Yuen explained, “I filed a complaint about this over ten years ago, but it has not been corrected. I feel quite helpless!” Many netizens expressed admiration for her honesty and nonchalance.