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CHARLIE YOUNG'S BIRTHDAY SURPRISE SPOILT BY SONS: Hong Kong actress Charlie Young was supposed to get a surprise for her birthday on Sunday, but her four-year-old twin sons let the cat out of the bag the day before.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Young, 47, who lives in Singapore with her Singaporean husband Khoo Shao Tze, wrote: "Due to the pandemic, I spent my birthday this year and last year at home. On the night before my birthday, my husband reminded me not to set the alarm clock so that I could wake up naturally."

It turned out her husband and sons were planning to give her a surprise, but the boys told her the day before: "Mama, we have a secret, but we can't tell you."

Young observed with amusement that her husband seemed to be perspiring - perhaps at their sons' inadvertent disclosure.

"I got a bouquet of flowers and a purple dress eventually," she wrote. "The flower patterns on the dress matched certain flowers in the bouquet."

Her husband had wanted a white dress which he thought she would be more likely to wear. "However, both brothers insisted on the purple dress... and the majority wins," said Young, who has acted in movies such as The Lovers (1994), New Police Story (2004) and Cold War (2012).

While she hinted that she might not wear the dress, she said she would treasure it as a gift. She did not expect her sons to arrange a surprise and felt they had grown up. She also thanked her husband, whom she married in 2013, for his patience and allowing their children to take part.

Young captured the hearts of many in the 1990s with her sweet image. She entered show business as a model in a jewellery commercial starring singer-actor Aaron Kwok and also released several albums in the 1990s as a singer.