Sisters Who Make Waves' Zhang Tian Ai Reportedly Changed Her Birth Year From 1988 To 1990 And Now 1992

Since Chinese reality competition Sisters Who Make Waves premiered on May 20, we've seen, well, waves and waves of news about the show on the Internet. 

Many of the Sisters ended up as top searches on Weibo following the first episode, like Chinese actress Zhang Tian Ai, who is in her thirties... we think?
 

Tian Ai was the only Sister who didn't mention her age when she first introduced herself. 

Unlike the rest, she merely said she was an actress who has been in the industry for nine years.

When Olympic Champion Chinese aerial skier, Xu Mengtao, 31, told Tian Ai that she was born in 1990, the actress coughed and said "It's like that, [I'm] 'Jie' (older sister), [you're] 'Mei' (younger sister), just call me Jie will do."

But later on, she awkwardly told Mengtao, "You can just call me Tian Ai". 

Now here is where it gets strange.

According to the Chinese media, Tian Ai's birth year was first reported as 1988.

But when the actress propelled to fame in 2015 after starring in period drama Go Princess Go, netizens realised that Tian Ai had changed her year of birth to 1990... which led netizens to nickname Tian Ai "Zhang88".

Recently, netizens found out that Tian Ai's Baidu Baike page now states that she's born in 1992.

So what sorcery is this?

While Tian Ai has yet to respond to news about her ever-changing year of birth, Chinese producer Yu Zheng, 44, who is best known for creating Story of Yanxi Palace, has spoken up for the actress. 

“In this world, younger actresses will always have more opportunities than the older ones, ” said Yu Zheng in a video he posted on Weibo.

“So when an actress changes her age, she just wants more people to notice her, to give herself more chances,” he added. He also asked netizens to not turn this piece of news into a talking point. 

However, netizens, as usual, chose to focus on the wrong thing. 

Somehow they came to the conclusion that Yu Zheng was indirectly admitting for Tian Ai that she changed her age, and even blamed him for making matters worse for the actress. 

No thanks to Yu Zheng's vid, Tian Ai and her birth year became a trending topic on Weibo. 

Photos: 8World / k.sina.cn