On May 28, actress Liu Xiaoqing suddenly climbed to the top of the trending topic on the social network Weibo (China) because of an "extremely harsh" response during an interview.
When promoting her new short film "The Legend of Wu Zetian", Liu Xiaoqing was called "veteran artist" by reporters. Hearing that, the actress immediately replied frankly and humorously: "Can the word "old" be removed?
The interview, after spreading, quickly caused heated discussions. Just one gentle sentence but it touched the sensitivity of society today to the issue of age.
Many netizens exclaimed: "He is indeed someone who has played Wu Zetian 4 times, his charisma is not ordinary".
In fact, this is not the first time Liu Xiaoqing has expressed discomfort with being labeled with age prefixes before her name. She has repeatedly said that the media always likes to call her "74-year-old Liu Xiaoqing", making her feel "my name naturally gets longer". According to her, that way of calling already contains prejudices about old age.
When mentioning that some newspapers deliberately edited her photos to reveal wrinkles, she bluntly retorted: "I don't look like that". She believes that society should not impose "when you are old, you must look like that", because everyone has the right to define their living status.
In the interview, the actress also raised a sharp question: "Is it true that being old means not being able to live fiercely? Do you have to be really elegant when you are old? I am not inherently an elegant person." This saying is seen as an appeal to break the stereotype that society often applies to older people - that when you are old, you must be gentle, calm and content.
And Liu Xiaoqing's confidence comes from practical actions. At the age of 75, she can still climb snow mountains at an altitude of 4,680 meters, even holding the plank for 5 minutes and 25 seconds.
In her career, Liu Xiaoqing has also not shown any signs of wanting to rest. In 2026, the vertical short film "The Legend of Wu Zetian" starring her reached more than 100 million views.
She said that once again transforming into Wu Zetian is like meeting "a soulmate". From the classic 1995 TV series version to the current short film, she sees this as a continuation as well as a new challenge in her acting career.
Over 50 years in the profession, Liu Xiaoqing "beced up eating lunch boxes at film studios". In recent years, she has been continuously active in many fields such as short films, spoken drama and entertainment programs. According to her: "As long as you are alive, there is still an opportunity".
Of course, the controversy surrounding her has never stopped. Some netizens believe that playing the role of a young woman at over 70 years old is "inappropriate" but there are also many people who support her "living true to herself".
Before those opinions, Liu Xiaoqing's reaction was very simple: actors must act in many different ages, and professional spirit is more important than age limits.
