One of my favourite Chinese drama shows, which had just ended recently, was Rosy Business. I was quite surprised that Gilbert did catch it as well.
The story was based on the olden days of China during the Qing dynasty and I expected not many people would be interested in it. It was mainly about the family of the major rice seller in Wuxi, China. To them, it was not only about profit but the essential of lives of the people, and thus they had to fight against thugs and their evil family members to keep the business going and the price of rice low.
I first caught it when I happened to have my dinner at home instead of dining out on a weekend. My curiosity was spiked by the great plot. It was a pity that I had missed out some of the exciting parts where the main characters applied intelligence to overcome problems.
The show was not anything like “Huang Fei Hong” or Tom Cruise in “mission impossible”. The hero was not a saint; he made big mistakes and grew mature over times. His loyalty, courage and intelligence were impressive.
The usual quote by the hero was “how many ten-years do we have in our lives?” and it clearly reminded everyone not to waste our lives.
I know I have been ill-treating myself for the past twenty-plus years. Though I have not produced much result, I have clearly spent most of my entire life racing. I’m been trained not to have lust on food or travelling. I’m losing myself as days go by and soon becoming a zombie.
I’m not a smart worker and I’m definitely bad at priority management. I have clearly disappointed many people.
I’m never in need of money not because my family is rich but I rarely spend on myself. I’m used to mess around with hunger since polytechnic days. My dad’s last payslip wrote around $1300 before he passed away and my mum spent quite a sum of my dad’s leftovers (CPF and insurance) on renovation of the rundown house, insurance plans that she could not afford, crappy health magnetic mattresses and she even lent a big portion of it to her boss who had been abusing her verbally. One year before I went to the army for national service, I had to start skipping meals after volleyball games.
Nobody can understand how much I have been through and thus no one is in the position to judge me. I have to work extra hard because I’m neither a genius nor apple-polisher. There are also some risks that I’m not able to take.
I need to do something for my next ten years of life if I can live on.
Channel 8 has been re-screening the "Young Warriors of the Yang Clan" Chinese drama series again at every weekday’s midnight.
It is a good guide to sleep early since I can get prepared by midnight and start dozing off during or after the show.
This drama is great for it is filmed in a warm-hearting way, which differs from other China historic shows. It involves relationship between parents, parents-children, siblings, boy-girl, emperor-subjects, and even the villain is cool. They have very good plots, which keep viewers in high suspend in every episode. I like the warring parts.
I spent the Saturday afternoon updating my blog with outdated entries. After which, the entire evening was used to edit the past few months’ outdated photos for the blog entries. It was a very strenuous process which totally tired me out because I had to match the date between the photos and days.
I looked through another folder and realised there were even photos taken the previous year that I had yet to upload but I had to give up since my mind was totally shagged. I dozed off soon and it was already after midnight.
I woke up at around five AM to brush my teeth but realised my brother was catching the “倚天屠龙记” show on his computer. I joined in but he dozed off soon and I caught three episodes of it until daylight.
I spent more than half of my holidays watching the Chinese drama – Han Wu Da Di (汉武大帝) – instead of doing my website. The few days of release from official work were initially planned for only personal work purpose.
I got to understand the biggest difference between watching drama many episodes at one go and a couple of episodes per week – the latter was harder for a clear picture of everything.
Previously when the drama was introduced on channel 8, there were times when I missed out the first few minutes of an episode, or even the entire episode. At times, I almost forgot the flow of the drama since the previous episode and I could not understand many things.
So far, Yaozhong is my only friend who enjoys watching the drama as well. I guess most people would find me a boring person for being so engrossed in such drama shows, but one day, someone would eventually find me unique.
Anyway, even though my initial plan for the holidays has been substituted, I suppose holidays are meant to be enjoyed.
My favourite show – Shao Nian Yang Jia Jiang – ended on Sunday. Mediacorp actually screened the last three episodes on two separated Sundays, and thus, each time I got to watch it for one and a half hour.
Since I had already finished watching it through Youtube, the last episode shown on channel 8 was not anticipating. The ending of the story was never as exciting and touching as their previous battle at the Golden Sand, let alone any other earlier episodes.
Till now, I'm still wondering how many friends have been catching the drama faithfully like me since the first episode; I'm wondering if anyone shows the same taste as me.
Tell me I'm not weird. Tell me I'm not the odd one out.
Call Me, But I won't Pick Up – this line must be familiar if you have been observing my MSN nick regularly.
More than one month ago, I was using it.
I suppose some people were thinking that I was in a foul mood and wished not to answer any call.
I actually changed my ringtone and I wanted to hear the beautiful song. If anyone were to call me, it would be playing; but if I were to accept the call, the song would stop.
You have to be an emotional person to appreciate it though.
二十年 (Er Shi Nian - Twenty years) by 张萌萌 (Zhang Meng Meng)
Theme song plays a big part to drama shows and "二十年" is a great combination to the show "少年杨家将".
Young Warriors of the Yang Clan (少年杨家将) is one of the most touching Chinese dramas ever. It features Chinese heroes from the Song Dynasty. The show started showing the family's proudest moment at war with the invading country – Liao. The story continued with the evil plots of the Liao's general, Yelu Xie, but the Yang warriors managed to beat him off with their perseverance over and over again. Apart from the external invasion, they had to overcome the prime minister's backstabbing as well. The sweet love stories added climates to the show.
We always expect good ending in heroic dramas, especially when big stars are involved, but even with the arrogance and cutest actors we have to expect the downfall of the warriors. If you have been catching the show since first episode like me, you would definitely taste the heartbreaking feeling towards the end.
Tonight, the emperor was going to betray his most faithful warriors' trust, leading to death.
Other than <二十年>, some other theme songs include <告诉他，我爱她>, <诀别诗>, <拂袖> and <越走越远>.
Channel 8 broadcasted an old but meaningful show again. This romance comedy “贱精先生” (If You Care …) was led by 陈奕迅 (Eason Chen) and 钟欣桐 (Gillian Chung from Twins). Though I missed the opening previously at Channel U, I found the characters quite familiar and decided to go by my luck at 1.30am.
Eason and Gillian were childhood friends in a village who were separated later on. Gillian fulfilled their dreams of becoming a firefighter but Eason was influenced by the City life, became a famous interior designer who had forgone everything for the sake of money.
This selfish and sly guy met an accident one night and he got a weird hand which would let him feel the pain and thought of anyone he touched. At the same time, he reconciled with Gillian. Through experiences, he finally became a good man.
The song of the show was 十年 (Ten Years) by Eason Chen himself, which was a very popular song quite a few years ago.
Eason’s shows always captivate my interest, and together with his song, they give good entertainment, reflection and motivation. Such nice old dramas are always worth going through again.
Zhang Qian finally returned to Chang An (Capital of China during early Han Dynasty) after his thirteen years of departure to the North, across the Xiong Nu territory, in search of the Yue Zhi country. He was assigned the ambassador to form an alliance with Yue Zhi to join the war against the Xiong Nu.
He led a hundred men on this mission in the early reign of Han Wu Di, however, being caught by the Xiong Nu. He was a captive for a few times throughout the thirteen years and eventually found the Yue Zhi country, who was indulging in their present peaceful lifestyle and refusing to go for war against the Xiong Nu to avenge for their humiliation.
Zhang Qian, in the end managed to escape the imprisonment from a final capture by the Xiong Nu who had by then lost a great war against the Hans (Chinese).
The scene when he went to meet the emperor (Han Wu Di) made a great impact on me. He had gone through so much and it was all true history - heroic story of human. I love this show so much that I can never miss any episode.
I enjoy Chinese historic stories a lot but the beginning was quite boring, whereas the ending was always tragedy. I love all the warring parts, because they are more of bravery and tactics, unlike our modern day’s ones which the stronger arm power would win. I respect the virtues of the heroes.
汉武大帝 (Han Wu Da Di)
汉武帝
So much for my love for Chinese historic stories, this show is one of the most touching ones I have ever seen. The sacrifices of heroes and the efforts they contributed touched my heart in every episode. Moreover, it comes with a great song which I doubt many people would appreciate, but I am still loving it.
