The Demise of my favourite HK series

AAARRRRrrrrggggghhhh!!!

ZHEN QING (aka A Kindred Spirit) is having its last episode today - 9 October 2005, on Channel 8. Let me share with you my memories of it.

The show that I'm watching now is a repeat of the very popular long-running drama series from Hong Kong. It started off being shown somewhere in the late 1990s on cable TV. Later, on "free TV" aka Channel U (by the now defunct MediaWorks), it was broadcast on a weekly basis, on 1-hour episodes.

Never really got to know the characters on the show, as I was away in Perth studying & only returned to Singapore irregularly. In those days when I returned to Singapore, I would eagerly grab an old copy of the TV magazine, 8-Days, to read up on what happened in "A Kindred Spirit".

I heard but never knew what happened in the stories on Runcai, Duohuan, Duoxin, Qinghua (having an affair in China), Shuang Shuang & Dasheng. The ones I knew about are as folllows:

1. Run Shan & Cha Shao Bing
2. Run Hao (played by Nancy Sit) & her ex-husband(s) & partners.
3. Rong Yi
4. Tian Fu & his 2 wives - the good 1st wife & that bad, bad 2nd one, who cheated him (I can't understand how Tian Fu allowed himself to be so cheated upon)
5. Xiao An, the indecisive guy & the youngest child of Run Shan/Cha Shao Bing
6. Xiang Hai & his multiple partners - sorry but it is true. Don't feel much sympathy for such a guy. Pity Rong Yi, what an adopted son Xiang Hai turned out to be!!
7. Zihao - what a jerk!! 'nuff said
8. Mei Mei - what arrogance she displays, which makes me wonder: Do all rich ladies show such arrogance/indifference?
9. Ah Qiong & Ya Lai
10. Ya Nan & Xiao Min
11. Dasheng & Qingyun - have never come across such a domineering woman in my life, save for one ... and as for Dasheng, he is an ex-con turned 100% good guy (though I don't know why Dasheng went to jail for, as I was away in Perth during his story)
12. Muchuan - he ain't an angel, so why he ditters & dotters when it comes to Xiaomei, I don't understand
13. Da Li - used to like Ah Qiong, still do 'cept now it is on a friend-friend basis
14. Xiaomei - she had prior knowledge of someone committing adultery, so why did she not inform the aggrieved party?
15. Granpa & Granma - "Mu Lao Hu" is how I would describe the grandmother (Wai Po, in Mandarin) ... As for Granpa, now & then, he would spout out his "words of wisdom"
16. Shengmen - in the beginning, sheer arrogance & an absolute love for bananas (he is a nutcase in himself). In the later part, maturity takes hold of him
17. Shengxiao - another indecisive fella, where matters of the heart is concerned
18. Shengjin (aka Jin Jin) - her name is a play on the Mandarin words for "crazy" ... Whoa!! Stay away from her, man!
19. Xiaoni - the mother to Shengxiao, Shengmen & Shengjin .. where all the craziness started
20. High-class relative (in Mandarin, this sounds like "Shang Deng Qing Jia) - a filthy rich-to-rags-to-some riches lady, who is the mother of Qingyun & Qinghua; hence a MIL to Duoxin
21. Datuk & his wife (mother to Ya Nan & stepmother to Ya Lai)
22. Ah Xue - Certain aspects of her behaviour prior to her amnesia is questionable
23. Helen - Careerwoman
24. Joan - Helen's younger sister & on/off girlfriend of Xiao-An
25. Lisheng - wonderful doctor's career turned off when he had an affair & tragic consequences resulted in his 1st wife's amnesia, his 1st child's death (an unborn baby at that, poor thing), his subsequent jailing & after that, rehabilitation back into the society, including being a doctor again & his 2nd marriage
26. Jingchuan - sounds like my type of heroine, except for 1 part
27. Ken - playboy one-time partner of Shengxiao
28. Vietnam - the son that Granpa had with his Vietnamese wife, a very nice bloke, who has a never give up attitude

Ok, I need to go get ready for the final episode of "A Kindred Spirit". It will start soon at 4.40pm today, 9 October 2005, on Channel 8.

Will blog about my good friend's wedding some other time, as until now, I've not gathered what I feel is sufficient blog material on it.