Tennis is a sport that emphasizes rhythm.

A player who controls the rhythm controls the match, whether by maintaining their own flow or disrupting that of their opponent.

For Qu Ying, a versatile 54-year-old entertainment artist who balances roles as a model, actress, comedian, host and singer, this philosophy of tennis applies equally to her life.

In March, she appeared as a guest on a vertical-screen talk show — an interview format specifically for short video platforms — where she humorously recounted her daily life with a rapid-fire delivery of jokes.

For instance, she said that, once, when she went grocery shopping in Thailand, her poor English caused her to mishear "spinach" as "Spanish". Thinking the vendor assumed she was from Spain because of her "exotic looks", she loudly corrected him: "Chinese!"

The puzzled vendor, thinking she wanted him to speak Chinese, gingerly pulled out his phone to display the Chinese character for "spinach" using a translation app. Only then did she realize her mistake.

She also refused overtime work, stating that she proactively requests "minimum pay, plus fixed working hours" in her contracts.

When asked to recommend practical products, she pulled out a pair of 10 yuan ($1.46) reading glasses and 2.5 yuan earrings, saying, "I don't need that much money, because I only buy cheap things anyway."

She also poked fun at her own tennis skills, calling herself "passionate but unskilled".