Barbie Hsu promotes the TV drama, "Summer of Foam"?at a press conference in Taipei on March 15, 2009. [yule.sohu.com]

Almost a decade after she starred in "Meteor Garden", the epitome of Chinese romantic TV dramas, Taiwan star Barbie Hsu is set to help create another classic of the next decade.

Hsu will team up with Chinese-American actor Peter Ho and mainland actor Huang Xiaoming to portray a love triangle in the drama "Paomo Zhixia" ("Summer of Foam"), which began filming Sunday.

Peter Ho is also the producer of the drama, an adaptation of mainland novelist Ming Xiaoxi's best-selling novel of the same name.

"I first heard of the novel from Peter," Barbie Hsu said at Sunday's press conference in Taipei. "He gave me a copy which immediately attracted me."

Cast members of "Paomo Zhixia" ("Summer of Foam") promote the TV drama at a press conference in Taipei on March 15, 2009. [yule.sohu.com]

Hsu says when Peter Ho later came up with the idea to make a TV adaptation, she told him that she wanted to be involved.

With its romantic theme and good-looking cast, "Summer of Foam" falls easily into the "idol drama" category, a genre that was popularized by "Meteor Garden" in 2001 and has flourished on China's small screens ever since.

"I know how fans of me ended up being my fans," Hsu told reporters, attributing her stardom to her iconic role in "Meteor Garden".

In recent years, Hsu has been showing her talent on the big screen with projects such as last year's "Connected" and the upcoming sci-fi film "Future Cop".

"But no matter how many film roles I play, I will not give up idol drama because I have gained a lot from it," says 32-year-old Hsu.

"People think 'Meteor Garden' represents the idol dramas of the past decade," says actress Ke Huanru, who starred in "Meteor Garden" and will also appear in the new drama. "I believe 'Summer of Foam' will become an idol-drama representative for the next decade."

Cast members of "Paomo Zhixia" ("Summer of Foam") promote the TV drama at a press conference in Taipei on March 15, 2009. [yule.sohu.com]

(CRI March 17, 2009)