Taiwan dancing queen Serena Liu dead at 44

Taiwan ballroom dancing queen Serena Liu Chen has died at the age of 44 on Sunday night (March 22), Taiwanese media reported.

Taiwan ballroom dancing queen Serena Liu Chen has died at the age of 44 on Sunday night (March 22), Taiwanese media reported.

Liu fell into a coma after undergoing a heart valve repair surgery at Taipei Veterans General Hospital on Feb 7. She went for another operation later to remove a blood clot in her brain. She was also put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a life support machine, while waiting for a heart transplant.

Both her husband, singer Shin Lung, and her manager remained uncontactable by phone.

Taipei Veterans General Hospital confirmed on Monday morning that Liu died at 10.22pm on Sunday.

Shin, 48, had told Apple Daily earlier this month that his wife found out about her heart condition by sheer chance.

Their four-year-old daughter had caught a cold and Liu had taken her to the doctor. When her daughter refused to have a stethoscope placed on her chest, the doctor listened to Liu's chest as a demonstration to calm the child.

That was when Liu was told that she had a heart murmur and was advised to seek further treatment.

Liu had gained fame first as a dancer on Taiwan's variety programmes before going on to act in dramas, films and host television programmes. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network