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Post by reinafu on Jan 11, 2015 15:04:13 GMT
Blade Heart TVB 2004
I got a 46 episodes version of this series (I read somewhere that instead of 37 episodes, it actually had 42 episodes, so, I think that I must have the most complete version…) and I watched it for the second time, which allows me to describe it with more details.
The characters
Tang Bi played by Liza Wang Ling Fung/Yu Wen Fung played by Adam Cheng Miss Liu Sima Yi, elder of the Sima clan Sima Sin, his brother Sima Ping Ting, his niece Sima Siu Yu her brother Mang Lei played by Raymond Lam Mang Lei’s mother played by Lily Li Miss Tsing Fei Er, member of the Wang family Yi Er, Tang Bi’s daughter Huo Sheng who worked for the Tang family Huo Sheng’s three friends, one of them being a doctor Fei Er’s father Eunuch Zheng, played by Chen Hung Lieh Chu Kou, Sima Yi’s servant Bai Ma, a horse
20 years ago, Ling Fung and Tang Bi were married and they lived in the Tang family, which was a very renowned family making weapons. The Sima family also made weapons and the two families were rivals. One day, the whole Tang family was destroyed by the Sima family, and both Tang Bi and Ling Fung believed that the other was dead. Ling Fung was imprisoned (as there are no subtitles, I don’t know why) and marked under his left eye and he was recruited by Eunuch Zheng, who gave him the head of the Brocade Guards under the name of Yu Wen Fung, wearing an eyepatch in order to hide his mark. On her side, Tang Bi gave birth to a boy and asked Huo Sheng to abandon him because she felt that she wouldn’t be able to raise him and she left. She fainted on the road and she was taken care of by the Wang family and later, she married Master Wang, who lead an escort company.
The story begins with Yu Wen Fung saving the King from killers and later, his company and another company of guards are trying to attack the Wang boat, I don’t know why, but finally, Yu Wen Fung lets more or less them escape just in order to stop the other company to get the market (if I understood well). Later, he discovers that Miss Wang is actually his long lost wife, who is now a widow, and when she is about to be attacked or cheated, he secretly helps her.
Sima Yi returns home with Chu Kou and it seems that he suffers from a kind of madness which leads him to kill innocent people, and among them, there is his former teacher and we discover that Sima Yi and Ling Fung were disciples of Wu Tang and that Sima Yi was already a kind of rebel when he was a child. When he learns that Sima Yi is here, Yu Wen Fung tries to arrest or kill him by all means, but he is stopped by Eunuch Zheng, who tries to use the Sima family in order to fulfill his own interests.
Meanwhile, Yi Er and her cousin Fei Er (a nephew of Master Wang, if I understood well) help Tang Bi to rule the Wang family according to her husband’s will, while Fei Er’s father plots against her and almost kills Yi Er because she has discovered the truth. At school, Yi Er and Fei Er are the target of Sima Ping Ting and Sima Siu Yu (who obeys his twin sister as if he was blind and didn’t saw how evil she is ) and they are helped by Mang Lei, who has found a shelter at school for his mother, who is paralyzed. During their journey, they have met Huo Sheng and his three friends and they have become friends. Mang Lei also becomes “ friend “ with a white horse who has saved his life by stopping him while he was about to drink poisoned water, and Bai Ma (the horse’s name, literally meaning White Horse in Chinese) also “ befriends “ Yi Er and the two young people become very good friends.
With Huo Sheng and his three friends’ help, Tang Bi decides to open a weapons manufacture in order to win a contest against the Sima clan in presence of the King. Knowing that it will be Sima Yi who will fight during the contest and as she holds him responsible of the slaughter of her family 20 years ago, Tang Bi decides to to kill him and she poisons the sword they have made for the contest and which will be used by Mang Lei (who is now working for Tang Bi at the manufacture) but during the fight, Huo Sheng arrives and tells Tang Bi that he has discovered that the boy he had abandoned 20 years ago and who he believed to be dead according to what the nurse had told him is actually Mang Lei, and Tang Bi stops the fight just when Sima Yi’s sword breaks Mang Lei’s sword, making this latter be hurt by the poisoned piece of sword. They call Miss Tsing, who is just a novice doctor to cure him (she had been also called by the Sima clan in order to cure Sima Yi and she had escaped with Sima Siu Yu’s help because she wasn’t acknowledged enough to cure him) and she finally succeeds, after having tested some poisons on herself in order to find the one which could cure Mang Lei.
When she discovers that Mang Lei and Yi Er are gradually falling in love, Tang Bi decides to separate them, and at the same time, the King, who has noticed Yi Er, decides to take her as his concubine. With Miss Tsing’s help, Mang Lei and Yi Er escape with Bai Ma and they hide in a small house, but Tang Bi, Huo Sheng, his three friends and the Brocade Guards lead by Yu Wen Fung find them and when one of Yu Wen Fung’s men is about to kill Mang Lei, Bai Ma interposes himself in order to save him and he is killed. Yi Er and Mang Lei are desperate and they don’t want to separate, but, in order to save her son, Tang Bi hurts him and Yi Er has to follow the guards.
Meanwhile, as Eunuch Zheng wasn’t satisfied by Sima Sin, he orders to take all the Sima Clan’s properties and to imprison Sima Sin, so, his wife, Sima Ping Ting and Sima Siu Yu have to err in the town and they are insulted by the people. One of the Brocade guards invites Sima Ping Ting to eat something in the inn and he rapes her and when she finally leaves the inn, she sees the superb sedan chair in which there is Yi Er on her way to the Palace and she swears that she will take revenge on the Wang family, which she holds for responsible of her family’s loss.
Sima Sin succeeds in escaping killers with Yu Wen Fung’s help and he tells Yu Wen Fung that 20 years ago, both Sima and Tang families had been cheated and while he tries to kill Yu Wen Fung, he is hurt by his own poisoned secret weapon. Sima Ping Ting is lead to her father by Yu Wen Fung and she tells him that she wants to get revenge and, though her father tells her not to do so, she insists and he finally dies.
Later, she makes both Mang Lei and Yi Er to believe that each other wants to date the other and she drowns her and bites herself and uses her blood to write something on a rock ; I guess that it’s an accusation against Mang Lei, since later, Yu Wen Fung chases this latter and is about to kill him when Tang Bi comes to rescue him. During the fight, she discovers that Yu Wen Fung is actually her long lost husband Ling Fung and she tells him that Mang Lei is their son. Mang Lei doesn’t want to believe that it’s true and he escapes. Miss Liu is a kind of courtesan who lives in Ling Fung’s house and tries to seduce him, but he doesn’t want her and he only wants to be reunited with his wife. She helps him to trap Sima Yi, whom she met a while ago and with whom she became friend too, but Ling Fun is stopped by Eunuch Zheng and he is blinded by a poisoned powder. He succeeds in escaping but his former men chase him, except one of them who stays faithful to him and helps him to escape.
While she is trying to help Mang Lei and his mother to escape, Tang Bi is hurt and two of Huo Sheng’s friends are killed, including the doctor, and Mang Lei’s adoptive mother is killed too. Later, Tang Bi and Ling Fung hide in Wu Tang, where they find 7 little disciples who help them to cure their wounds and they both train in order to defeat Sima Yi and Miss Tsing, who is now a good doctor, helps Ling Fung to cure his eyes. She is in love with Mang Lei since she met him, but she gave up when she saw that he had fallen for Yi Er and she is also friend with Sima Siu Yu, who is in love with her. Sima Siu Yu discovers that his sister has killed Yi Er and he is desperate and he tries to help Miss Tsing to escape from Eunuch Zheng’s men, who want her to lead them to Ling Fung and Tang Bi. Finally, Ling Fung and Sima Yi have a discussion regarding their duel and they fight, but Ling Fung looses. Tang Bi leaves him because she doesn’t understand him anymore and he is desperate.
Meanwhile, Sima Ping Ting has decapitated her father’s corpse and she brings the head to Eunuch Zheng and tells him that Yu Wen Fung is actually Ling Fung and that Miss Wang is nobody else than Tang Bi and that Mang Lei is their son and they plot to get Mang Lei taking revenge on his own parents, and finally, Mang Lei is imprisoned and marked just as his father had been marked 20 years ago and he takes the head of the Brocade Guards, killing people under Eunuch Zheng’s order. Sima Ping Ting decides to seduce him, but he doesn’t want her. Later, she tells her mother that she killed Yi Er and her mother decides to inform Mang Lei and Sima Ping Ting doesn’t hesitate to kill her brother who was bringing the letter. When she discovers that Sima Ping Ting killed both Yi Er and her own brother, Miss Tsing wants to tell Mang Lei the truth, but Sima Ping Ting tries to drown her too, but she sees that Mang Lei is coming and she makes him believe that she is trying to save Miss Tsing. This latter is in the coma and, while she makes everybody believe that she is taking care of her, actually, Sima Ping Ting poisons her day after day. Finally, Miss Tsing wakes up and first, she doesn’t recognize anybody, but when she sees Chu Kou (who has fallen for Sima Ping Ting and follows her everywhere while Sima Yi has left ), she recovers all her memory and she tells Mang Lei that Sima Ping Ting has tried to kill her and that she killed Yi Er and Sima Siu Yu, but he doesn’t want to believe her and she escapes. During a crisis, Sima Ping Ting “ rapes “ Chu Kou, just in order to get him more obedient and to use his force against her enemies. Later, Mang Lei decides to marry Sima Ping Ting but the day of the wedding, he goes to see her mother and he finally discovers that the bride has really killed Yi Er, her brother and even her uncle Sima Yi, with Chu Kou’s help and he wants to kill Sima Ping Ting, but she tells him that he can’t do that since she bears his baby. He is so angry that he show all the guests that he is a marked man and he leaves.
Later , he meets his father and they finally reconciliate and they find Tang Bi, who has helped Huo Sheng to escape from jail, but he is too badly hurt and he finally dies, telling Tang Bi that she must reconciliate with her husband.
Later, the king asks Ling Fung to help him to get rid of Eunuch Zheng and he tells him that actually, it’s this latter who had plotted against Sima and Tang families 20 years ago and Ling Fung obeys, but discovered that the king only used him. Mang Lei finally admits that he loves Miss Tsing, but he doesn’t know that she is dying from SIma Ping Ting’s poison and she doesn’t want that Miss Liu (who is helping her) tells him the truth. In order to kill Mang Lei and his parents, Eunuch Zheng had sentenced Sima Ping Ting to death and it’s Ling Fung and Tang Bi who save her, but just to discover that it was a trap against their son. Sima Ping Ting finally marries Chu Kou, but he discovers that once again, she has just used him ans she even wants to get rid of their baby, but he still does all what she wants because he is deeply in love with her. He fights with Ling Fung and he badly hurts him and when Tang Bi tries to help him, she is cheated by Sima Ping Ting and the couple is prisoner of Sima Ping Ting and her husband. Tang Bi tries to cure her husband, but it seems that he has lost all his kung fu and when Mang Lei (who as been told by Fei Er that his parents are prisoners) arrives in order to save his parents, Sima Ping Ting hurts Tang Bi and Mang Lei has to fight with Chu Kou, who is as strong as his master Sima Yi was, and Ling Fung tells him what to do. It puts Sima Ping Ting mad and she hits him with her sword but she can’t kill him because the baby hurts her and when Mang Lei wants to kill her, Chu Kou begs him to let her live and promises that he and his parents will be free. The three of them escape, but Sima Ping Ting is mad about her husband and later, when he sees that her madness has become so strong, he kills her and he commits suicide. When they have recover from their wounds, Tang Bi and Ling Fung finally decide to live happy together, but the king asks Ling Fung to work for him and, as he tells him that he can’t do it anymore because he lost all his kung fu, the king offers him a cup of wine and let him go. The series ends with Ling Fung returning home and understanding that he has been poisoned, while his wife is waiting for him, playing zither.
It’s a superb series, with a lot of twists (of course, I couldn’t give a synopsis of the whole plot…), superb fights and the actors were all very good. Lily Li was poignant in her role of Mang Lei’ s adoptive mother who didn’t want to be a burden for her son, the actor playing Huo Sheng was excellent in the role of the faithful Tang Bi’s employee, the actresses playing Miss Tsing and Yi Er were good, and Chen Hung Lieh and the actress playing Sima Ping Ting played perfectly their hatable characters !!
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Post by chefying on Jan 12, 2015 5:14:07 GMT
Thanks for the synopsis. I know my mother watched this, I did not. Now I can consider watching the series.
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Post by reinafu on Jan 12, 2015 11:42:44 GMT
You're welcome. It would have been better if only I was able to understand more dialogues...
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Post by reinafu on Feb 28, 2015 22:36:25 GMT
The hawk TVB 1981
Adam Cheng plays Ting Lan, who belongs to the hawk clan and is a bounty hunter. One day, he meets a young woman called Zhao Lin, who is dressed as a man and impersonates him and in order to make fun on her, he leads her to a brothel and when she asks him to take “ him “ as a student, he shows her that he found her hairpin and he tells her that he doesn’t take female students, but they become friends. Later, Ting Lan’s mother asks him to return home and she wants him to marry Ni Tian Er (played by Angie Chiu), but, as he doesn’t want to marry her (he never met her), his mother imprisons him in a dungeon, where he meets his nephew Ting Shao Bai. However, on the wedding day, Ting Lan succeeds in escaping from home and with Shao Bai’s help he leaves the town.
During their journey, they meet Zhao Lin again and she presents Ting Lan to her father (I’ll call him Master Zhao, since I didn’t hear his name clearly), played by Kwan Hoi San. There, Ting Lan meets also a guy he had met a while ago, Fei Qing Lung (if I heard well), who is a kind of lieutenant for Master Zhao. Fei Qing Lung is in love with Zhao Lin, but she only loves Ting Lan and she is absolutely convinced that Ting Lan loves her too. Ting Lan has a friend called Lao San, who has a daughter A Yin, who falls in love with Shao Bai, but her brother doesn’t want her to follow Shao Bai.
As the weeding was postponed, Tian Er left her house and began a journey in order to find her future husband. While Ting Lan and his friend Lao San are in a town, they hear of a beautiful new courtesan called Su Su, who is interested only in swordsmen and Ting Lan finally discovers her and is totally fond of her. Of course, it happens that it’s Ni Tian Er, but he doesn’t know it, while she knows who he is since he gives her his real name when they meet. After a few adventures, they finally return to the Tings’ house and they marry, but on the wedding day, the woman who raised Tian Er is hurt by some guys and she has to escape together with Tian Er, this latter’s uncle, her maid Ze Tin, Ting Lan and also Zhao Ling, who, though she is very angry with Ting Lan because she still believes that he loves her, has decided to help them to save the old woman. While the couple, Ze Tin and Tian Er’s uncle fight with some assassins, Zhao Lin comes to help them and the sedan bearers try to kill the old lady, but she is saved by Ting Lan. Tian Er is so angry against Zhao Lin because she had promised to stay with the old lady instead of helping them that she hits her with her sword and Ting Lan is very shocked by his wife’s behavior and he is angry with her and leaves with Zhao Lin hurt in his arms in order to lead her to her father, while Tian Er, her uncle and the wounded old lady try to find a new shelter. During their escape, they are helped by Lao San, who learns that Tian Er is actually the daughter of two famous members of the Moon Sect and when he is on his way to Ting Lan, he is badly hurt by men who are under Master Zhao’s wife’s orders and who are chasing Tian Er in order to kill her and her family’s members. Before dying, Lao San tells Ting Lan about his wife and gives him a plan in order that he can reunite with them. Unfortunately, when he arrives in the cave where they were hiding, he only finds the corpses of the old lady and the men who attacked her, and he is desperate because he doesn’t know where his wife is. Tian Er, Ze Tin and Tian Er’s uncle are still trying to escape to the men who want to kill them and they finally find the house where the Moon Sect lived 20 years ago and they find a manual in a cave and Tian Er decides to learn how to use her crescent sabre in order to get revenge for her parents.
Actually, Master Zhao is the real mastermind of those who want to get rid of all the members of the Moon Sect and he sends his wife to go to the Moon Sect Mansion in order to kill Tian Er, but when she is there, she recognized that Tian Er’s uncle is actually the man she loved and she had to leave in order to marry Zhao Lin’s father. Both Tian Er and her uncle succeed in making her to stay with them, but later, they are attacked by Master Zhao’s men and they are saved by Tian Er and her new skills. As they are both injured and lost a part of their skills Tian Er’s uncle and his former fiancée decide to leave and Tian Er leaves in order to go to kill Master Zhao. She meets Fei Qing Lung, who tells her that it’s him who is responsible for her parents’ death, and he also tells her that Ting Lan is with Zhao Lin in order that she helps him to get rid of Ting Lan because he is jealous. With the help of a family who worked for her family 20 years ago, Tian Er challenges Master Zhao (on a day where Ting Lan isn’t at the Zhao’s house) and, while they are fighting, he falls from a cliff. Zhao Lin wants to kill her and Fei Qing Lung betrays her and tells everybody that she is from an evil sect and that she wants to rule the whole martial world and they all ( Shaolin, Wu Tang and another sect, who were summoned by Master Zhao) want to kill her. Ting Lan arrives and helps her, but when he learns that she has killed Master Zhao, he doesn’t understand her anymore and, instead of killing her, he hurts her right arm in order that she can’t use her crescent sword anymore, and he returns to the Zhao’s mansion in order to make the other sects believe that he has killed his wife. Zhao Lin thinks that she will then be able to marry him, while Fei Qing Lung , who has taken the head of the Zhao’s mansion, is much more jealous and decides to do all what he can in order to get rid of his rival in her heart. While Tian Er is escaping, she faints and she is saved by Shao Bai and A Yin, who live in a small house in the forest. When she recovers, she trains in her new skills (with her left hand) and Shao Bai spies on her and learns the crescent sword too. One day, A Yin’s brother recognizes Tian Er in the street and he immediately tells Qing Lung that she is still alive and he takes some men in order to kill her and she is saved by Shao Bai with her own technique and Fei Qing Lung has to escape. Ting Lan is so desperate to see that his wife doesn’t want to give up her vengeance and doesn’t want to see him anymore that he returns at home, but the Shaolin, Wu Tang and Zhao sects plot against them and they corrupt an official in order that he takes away their gold eagle symbol. There is a fight and Lady Ting’s lieutenants kill themselves and Ting Lan’s sister-in-law is killed, while he is trying to save his mother. Ting Lan is so desperate that he leaves the town and goes to the desert where he befriends a man who belongs to the tribe of a Mongolian prince who had helped Tian Er, her uncle and Ze Tin when they were escaping and had discovered that Ze Tin was actually his cousin. Ze Tin has agreed to marry the Prince and they capture Ting Lan and his friend who were attacked by another group of Mongols, but Ting Lan hides his face in order that Ze Tin can’t recognize him. However, as both friends are about to be burnt, Ze Tin, her husband and their men are attacked by the other group of Mongols and Ting Lan escapes from the flames and helps them to get rid of their rivals and he escapes with his new friend (called Jiu, if I’m not mistaken). Actually, the other group of Mongols is paid by Fei Qing Lung, who wants Ting Lan to be killed. During their escape, Jiu and Ting Lan are totally exhausted and thristy and they faint in the desert. When he awakes, Ting Lan discovers that it’s Tian Er that has saved them and they finally make up after giving each other some explanations.
On Ze Tin and the prince’s wedding day, the prince is killed and Ze Tin is buried alived and tortured by Fei Qing Lung’s men who want her to tell them where is Tian Er and, in order to avoid talking, she swallows her tongue and dies. When Ting Lan and Tian Er’s uncle arrive, they find that they are dead and they return to Tian Er in a hurry.
Meanwhile, Fei Qing Lung has forced Zhao Lin to marry him, but on the wedding night, she wants to kill him and is killed by his sword by accident. Qing Lung is desperate and he discovers that Master Zhao isn’t dead and he is badly hurt by him and he escapes. He arrives in the Mongolian tribe and is discovered by Jiu, who talks too much and is unfortunately killed by Qing Lung when this latter( who has been saved and cured by Jiu) learns that he is Tiing Lan’s friend.
Ting Lan and his wife return to Ting Lan’s mother and they escape when they are chased by Master Zhao’s men, but Ting Lan still doesn’t know that he is the mastermind. It’s only when Shao Bai kills Fei Qing Lung in order to get revenge for his mother’s death that they finally understand who Master Zhao really is. This latter is so eager of power that he becomes half mad and is confident only in A Yin’s brother, who has a kind of devotion for him and often argue with his sister and doesn’t believe that his master could do harm to the Tings.
Finally, after a lot of twists, Tian Er and Ting Lan finally succeeds in killing Master Zhao, but Tian Er wants her husband to kill her in order that she doesn’t do harm to others because she belongs to an evil sect. Of course, he doesn’t want to and his friend the monk helps her to get rid of all her martial arts skills and she returns to her husband, while poor Shao Bai has lost the use of his right arm due to the bad wound he received from Fei Qing Lung before killing him.
Sorry if my review isn’t clear enough : I watched so many series in a short while, that I don’t remember clearly what I watched and maybe I didn’t described the scenes in the right order…
What a superb series, and it’s so unusual to see Adam Cheng fighting with another weapon than a sword, a fan or bare hands. Here he fights with a triple section iron stick, each stick being linked to the others by an iron chain (sorry, I’m not able to name properly the Chinese weapons…) and he is excellent with this weapon as well as with all the other weapons he uses in his other series or movies. And the songs are very good, as usual…
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Post by chefying on Mar 1, 2015 11:02:04 GMT
I liked "The Hawk". I watched it a long time ago, and I found that there light-hearted moments and serious moments, making the story interesting. Of course, Adam Cheng was good in it. I think there was a part where he said that his master had passed away, and his new master had not been born yet - inferring there is no one to control him. And it was always amusing how he disliked his mother's meddling but yet had to succumb to her wills.
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Post by reinafu on Mar 1, 2015 14:25:48 GMT
Yes, in all the movies/series I watched, it seems that the respect towards the parents is a sacred thing for Chinese people. It should be the same eveywhere, and it was a long while ago,but it seems that the new generation of children are from another world in comparison with what we have been teached by our parents and/or teachers...As a teacher myself, I'm more than once shocked by what the pupils tell me regarding how they talk to their parents or how they talk to the other teachers and I wonder what the world will become with such a generation...
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Post by reinafu on Mar 3, 2015 21:01:09 GMT
Fate takes a hand aka Du Xin Wu TVB 1987 When I bought this series 2 or 3 years ago, I got it only in Thai language and I didn’t understand a word, except Adam Cheng’s character’s name, Du Xin Wu. However, I had found it superb and it was the first series with Adam Cheng I watched and that made me being a “crazy“ fan of his. I recently had the luck to get a Mandarin version of this series and I watched it once again, and this second viewing reinforced what I thought when I first watched it : what a superb series and how excellent Adam Cheng is in it !! So, here is my review for this series. Fate takes a hand tells the story of Du Xin Wu, who was a rich scholar and martial arts expert in a small town. The series begins with some assassins trying to kill Sun Yat Sen, but they don’t know that they are actually following his bodyguard Du Xin Wu and, while this latter fights with them and creates a diversion, Sun Yat Sen escapes in his car. During the fight, Du Xin Wu is hurt by a gun and while he is curing his wound, he finds some photos in his suitcase and he remembers his past… One day, a guy called Lu brought a coffin in front of the Dus’ house (I didn’t understand why) and, after a short fight won by Du Xin Wu, the two men became friends and Lu left the town. Later, Du Xin Wu and another scholar and martial arts expert, Nung Siu Fu (played by Simon Yam) are in a boat with the Qing Court officials and they discuss of strategy because the French boats are going to attack them. While they are discussing, a few men lead by a girl introduce in the boat and tell something I didn’t understand to the officials, but they don’t want to believe what she says and she has to fight in order to be able to escape from the boat, and Du Xin Wu is very impressed by her. Later, the Chinese boats are attacked by the French boats and many soldiers are killed, and it’s Du Xin Wu and Nung Siu Fu who use the canons in order to destroy the French boats, but their own boat explodes and they have to swim in the sea in order to escape. It’s not shown how Nung Siu Fu escapes, but it’s the girl who saves Du Xin Wu and, in order to thank her, he gives her his sword, on which his name is carved, and he learns that she is called Guo Feng. Later, while Du Xin Wu is training with his master (Shih Kien ), who is also an official of the Qing Court in the town, they are spied on by a young girl disguised as a man and it happens that it’s Fan Jie, who is the daughter of a master of Feng Shui, who is a good friend of Du Xin Wu’s father (played by Shaw Brothers’ actor Tien Ching). A more important Qing Court official (played by Kong Ngai, hatable as possible in this role !! ) arrives in the town and when he sees Shih Kien, he recognizes him and from what I understood, there is an old grudge between them due to the fact that Shih Kien married the woman Kong Ngai loved. This official is very hard on people and he is very servile towards the French officials who despise the Chinese. One day, the French organize a kind of tournament with rickshaws ; the rickshaws pullers are Chinese, of course, and the people who compete are French people, playing a kind of hockey match. Among the rickshaws pullers, there is a young guy called Liu Fu Hai, who has an elder brother (who is also a rickshaw puller, but his health isn’t very good and he hasn’t been selected for the tournament), and an uncle who is an opium smoker. The French competitors hit their rickshaw pullers without any hesitation, and when he saws that Kong Ngai doesn’t interfere in order to protect his own people, Du Xin Wu is so angry that he jumps among the rickshaws and he beats the French officials. Kong Ngai fights with him and Du Xin Wu is forced to stop the fight because the French officers threaten him with their rifles. Kong Ngai humiliates Du Xin Wu and wants him to kneel down in front of the French people, but he doesn’t want to. His father begs him to obey, and when he sees that his father is about to kneel down in his name, he is forced to do it and it’s evident in their eyes that the war is declared between Du Xin Wu and Kong Ngai. Du Xin Wu is lead to jail, but before leaving, he shows Kong Ngai that during the fight, he has succeeded in taking away his jade pendant, and Kong Ngai is stunned to discover that he has found a better fighter than him in the town. As punishment, Du Xin Wu is hanged by the hands to the door of the town for three days and three nights. During one of the nights, three assassins are sent in order to kill him, but he is saved by Fan Jie, who also climbs on the roof in order to protect him with an umbrella when it rains. Finally, Xin Wu can return home and Kong Ngai goes to the Dus’ house and bring them a sign and he fights again with Xin Wu and is surprised to discover that after three days and three nights he is still a good fighter and is able to counter attack all his strikes. Fan Jie’s father looks for a good place for the Du’s family gravestone and when he finds the right place, there is already the gravestone of the Liu’s family. Du father doesn’t hesitate to order his men to dig up the dead corpses and they bring the bones to the Lius’ house with some money to compensate. Liu Fu Hai is furious and he doesn’t want the money and, with his brother’s help, they go to demolish the Dus’ gravestone and recover theirs, but they are arrested and Du father wants them to be jailed, but Du Xin Wu doesn’t want them to be imprisoned because he thinks that it’s his family’s fault if the Lius did this and he asks his master to speak up for them to Kong Ngai and, after a fight between the two officials, they are finally free. Xin Wu wants to give money to the Lius, but Fu Hai doesn’t want to, so, he wants to help them to find a better job and after a quarrel, Liu Fu Hai tells him that he doesn’t want his help. Later, the Lius ask Kong Ngai to help them to work for him, but he humiliates the elder brother and this latter finally kills himself and Fu Hai and his uncle are desperate. When he learns about Fu Hai’s brother’s death, Xin Wu still wants to help the family, and after another quarrel with Fu Hai, this latter finally accepts to work for the Dus and they become friends. Fan Jie’s father dies and before dying, he asks his friend Du father to marry Du Xin Wu to his daughter and Du father promises him that he will do so, but Du Xin Wu sees Fan Jie only as a friend and is in love with Guo Feng and he doesn’t want to marry her, but his father orders him to do so. On the wedding day, with Liu Fu Hai and his servant’s help, Xin Wu escapes from the house and the Dus marry Fan Jie to a rooster (! ). When she discovers that, Fan Jie is furious and she goes to the town in order to find the three men and she steals Du Xin Wu belongings as a compensation for her cancelled wedding. Xin Wu then decides to go to the capital in order to become an official and he meets Nung Siu Fu, who lives with his uncle Nung Yuen Tian (played by Kwan Hoi San), and his cousin, who is a little bit simple minded and the two friends participate to the tournaments in order to become officers. As they are the strongest among all the candidates, the Empress Ci Xi decides to decide between them by asking them to teach a few moves of martial arts to the royal princesses. These ones prefer to chat and laugh instead of listening to Nung Siu Fu’s orders and he fails. When it’s Du Xin Wu’s turn, they do the same, but he hit one of the princesses with his long stick on her acupuncture points and she faints. The other ones are so scared that they immediately obey to his orders and they handle their long sticks the way he asks them to do, and he finally wins the tournament and Nung Siu Fu will be under his orders. And then, it’s the beginning of Nung Siu Fu’s jealousy towards Du Xin Wu… Meanwhile, Guo Feng has been joined by her neighbor Ming, who is also a very good female fighter, and they have gone in another part of the country in order to join the Tang clan, who is a rebel group. One of the lieutenants of the Tangs’ chief doesn’t want them but Guo Feng succeeds in convincing Tang that he has to accept them and she even becomes the second chief of the Tang clan. Du Xin Wu , Nung Siu Fu, Liu Fu Hai and a group of soldiers are sent to the part of the country where the Tangs are, with the mission to capture the rebels. Later, the rebels attack the camp and set the provisions on fire but when he discovers that Guo Feng is among the rebels, Du Xin Wu can’t kill her nor capture her. They have a quarrel because Guo Feng tells him that he hasn’t chosen the right side, but he tells her that he thinks that he serves better his country by being an official rather than a rebel and he lets her go. When Nung Siu Fu learns that, he becomes suspicious towards Du Xin Wu and he decides to do all what he can in order to get rid of his former friend. The former second chief of the Tang clan has spied on Guo Feng and he accuses her to be a traitor because she holds Du Xin Wu’s sword, and, in order to show Tang that she isn’t a traitor, she breaks the sword, and, while Du Xin Wu and a few men are waiting on the beach a night in order to trap the Tangs, she comes and discovers that Du Xin Wu has fallen asleep and she puts the broken sword near him and leaves. As there are no provisions and as Nung Siu Fu is so jealous towards Du Xin Wu that he has poisoned the water, the soldiers leave the camp little by little and even Liu Fu Hai decides to leave. Then, a Qing Court official called Wang, who must be a royal prince because he wears the yellow clothes under his uniform, is sent to the camp and he decides to give the commandment to Nung Siu Fu and to place Du Xin Wu under this latter’s orders. Later, Nung Siu Fu captures Tang and there is a negotiation between him and Guo Feng in order to release him, but Guo Feng demands that the negotiation will be between her and Du Xin Wu. Nung Siu Fu is so furious that he takes the opportunity that both lovers are discussing in a shaolin temple to help Tang to escape from the camp, and then, he kills him without any mercy. Tang’s men are convinced that it’s Du Xin Wu who has ordered to kill their chief and they run to the temple in order to kill him and Guo Feng and Ming fight their men in order to help him to escape, but they run after him and it’s Liu Fu Hai (who has joined the rebels’ camp) who saves Du Xin Wu (who is hurt) by throwing smoke grenades. Later, Du Xin Wu is sent to another part of the country in order to be placed under an officer called Tang (not the same Tang as the rebels) and they become good friends and they win a naval battle against the English and Japanese boats (if I’m not mistaken). However, as there was an assassination attempt against Ci Xi, Du Xin Wu is called back to the palace in order to protect the Empress, and he is very worried towards his friend Tang because it’s Nung Siu Fu who replaces him under Tang’s orders. Unfortunately, he discovers that he was right to be worried, since he learns by a survivor of his former soldiers that Nung Siu Fu has plotted in order to get rid of Tang, who was killed in another naval battle (if I understood well) and he is so furious that he wants to kill Nung Siu Fu, but Wang arrives and don’t let him do it. Later, Ci Xi receives a foreigners delegation and when Du Xin Wu hears how she is selling off her own country to strangers, he can’t help but interfere and Ci Xi wants him to be killed, but all the other officials plead his cause and he is only dismissed. Later, Du Xin Wu opens a school in order to teach the country’s love to the people of his native town and when Nung Siu Fu discovers the school, he fights with him but it’s Xin Wu who wins and he is furious. Nung Siu Fu now works for Wang, and, after a reconciliation with Fan Jie, Du Xin Wu asks her to leave because she behaves as if she was his wife and he doesn’t love her, so, she becomes Nung Yuen Tian’s goddaughter after his son’s death, due to a bad mistake of Liu Fu Hai (I think that this part of the series takes place a little bit earlier than the events I described above). I don’t know how nor why, but Guo Feng, Liu Fu Hai, Ming, Wang and Nung Siu Fu negotiate something and, from what I saw, some weapons are supposed to be delivered to Guo Feng, but the delivery fails and Nung Siu Fu hides the rifles in his uncle’s house. Unfortunately, Fan Jie losts something in the warehouse where there are the rifles and the whole warehouse explodes and fan Jie and Nung Yuen Tian have just the time to escape from being killed by the explosion. When Nung Yuen Tian learns by his servant that it was his nephew who hid the rifles in his warehouse, he is furious and he has a quarrel with him, but Nung Siu Fu tells him that it’s not true and he swears that he isn’t responsible for this matter, and his naive uncle believes him. Then, Nung Siu Fu goes to Wang and tells him what happened with the rifles and Wang decides to accuse Nung Yuen Tian of that, though Nung Siu Fu doesn’t agree, and he promises him that nothing will happen to his uncle. On the contrary, the unfortunate uncle is lead to the magistrate, who is no one else than Wang, and he is accused of having robbed the rifles and his nephew even has to testify against him. Nung Yuen Tian is so furious against his nephew that he tries to hit him, but he can’t. When he learns that Wang wants to execute his uncle, Nung Siu Fu is furious and he helps his uncle to escape and gives him some money, but he doesn’t know that Wang has anticipated his move and three killers attack his uncle and he falls from a cliff. When he learns that his uncle is supposed to be dead, Nung Siu Fu wants to kill Wang, but this latter succeeds in making him change his mind and he goes on working for Wang. Later, Liu Fu Hai is introduced to the palace and he works for Wang. Guo Feng and Ming meet Lu and they plan to kill Ci Xi, but their plan needs that Guo Feng introduces in the palace as a maid or something like that, so, as Liu Fu Hai is already an official in the palace, Guo Feng decides to marry him in order that he presents her as his wife to Ci Xi. Of course, Du Xin Wu is devastated to learn that the woman he loves prefers to marry another man and, as she can’t reveal her plan, she can’t tell him why and he doesn’t understand anything, as well as Fan Jie, who asks Guo Feng to give up her idea of marriage and to marry Du Xin Wu since she knows that they are in love, but Guo Feng leaves without any explanation. Liu Fu Hai isn’t aware that his wife uses him to plot against the Empress, and he doesn’t understand either why she has married him since he knows that she loves Du Xin Wu, but, as he loves her, he doesn’t try to find the truth. On the day she is supposed to meet the Empress, Li Fu Hai comes to talk to his wife and he finds that she has prepared a snake in order to poison a sword and he knocks her out and runs to the palace in order to inform the Empress, just at the same moment when Lu is attacking the palace and tries to kill Ci Xi by using his sword against the guards, and then some grenades, but he is hurt and he has to escape. When he returns at home, Liu Fu Hai is beaten by his wife and Ming even wants to kill him, but when he tells Guo Feng that if he knocked her out it was because he didn’t want her to be killed, she stops Ming from killing him. While he is walking on the street, Du Xin Wu meets some officers and he asks them why there is so much agitation and they tell him that they are looking for the killer, and, after they left him, he finds Lu by a stroke a luck and he helps him to find a hiding place and he wants to cure him, but Lu tells him that it’s too late and they talk once again about the country’s love and Lu tries to make Du Xin Wu understand that he has mistaken himself by being an official instead of being a revolutionary and they swear to be sworn brothers, but Lu dies and Du Xin Wu is very sad. When he is at home with his parents, he is summoned to the palace by Ci Xi, and he is accused by her to have helped the killer and he sees that the officers have found Lu’s corpse and a beggar, who has witnessed him helping Lu, testifies that it’s Du Xin Wu who helped Lu and Ci Xi orders her guards to arrest Du Xin Wu, but of course, he resists and takes her eunuch as hostage in order to leave the palace, but he is hurt by a gun. Outside the palace, he is helped by Fan Jie and Nung Yuen Tian, who isn’t dead but has lost the use of his right arm. Du Xin Wu faints in a street and he is cured by the Doctor Sun Yat Sen who extracts the gun ball in the street and then lead them to his house, where they find a place to hide. Several days after, Guo Feng comes to see Du Xin Wu and they have an explanation and he finally admits that he was wrong and that Sun’s ideas are good and he decides to help Guo Feng. Later, he learns that his parents have been arrested and, with Guo Feng’s help, they kidnap Wang and asks Nung Siu Fu for an exchange with Du Xin Wu’s parents, but Nung Siu Fu tells them that since he holds Wang responsible for his uncle’s death, they can kill him. They finally come to an agreement and the exchange is supposed to take place along the river. On a side, there are Du Xin Wu, Guo Feng and Wang, and on the other side, there are Nung Siu Fu, a few soldiers and Du Xin Wu’s parents. These latter are placed in a boat and, while they are on their way to the other side, some archers shoot fire arrows on the boat. Then, Nung Yuen Tian jumps on the boat in order to stop the fire and Siu Fu shouts at him to go away, but it’s too late and the boat explodes, killing Du Xin Wu’s parents and Nung Siu Fu’s uncle. Du Xin Wu is devastated, and he swears to avenge his parents death, and together with Guo Feng, Fan Jie, and Ming, they discuss of a plan. On Nung Yuen Tian’s funerals, Du Xin Wu disguises as a monk and waits for Nung Siu Fu in the temple and they fight, but some soldiers arrive and Du Xin Wu is hurt. While he is fighting with them, Fan Jie comes to help him and she is killed by a gun and he is devastated. Meanwhile, Guo Feng, Ming and Liu Fu Hai has been imprisoned by Wang, and, in order to lure Du Xin Wu out, Nung Siu Fu helps them to escape and to attack Wang and he takes this opportunity to kill Wang in order to avenge his uncle’s death. Then, he meets Du Xin Wu for a last duel and they have a big fight and both are hurt, but Nung Siu Fu finally dies and Du Xin Wu escapes with Guo Feng, Ming and Liu Fu Hai. At the end of the series, there is a Chinese text written and read, telling what happened to Du Xin Wu (who is shown cutting his braid), but I can’t tell what it is, since I din’t understand what was said or written. I made some searches on the internet and, though the reviewer from specnet tells that is a 20 episodes, I only saw it mentioned with 18 episodes, so, I don’t know where he saw that Du Xin Wu killed Ci Xi, but it’s not in the series at all… The songs are good and, as I already said, Adam Cheng is excellent. The fights are very good : he practices the drunken sword with Lu, and the drunken boxing with Nung Siu Fu, and all his other fights are superb. This series is a must see… And for those who are interested in getting more informations on Du Xin Wu, here are two links : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du_Xinwuen.cnws.tv/article_details.php?id=6I forgot to mention an important part of the series which takes place before Du Xin Wu escapes to his marriage with Fan Jie. As he hates Du Xin Wu, Kong Ngai does all what he can in order to harm this latter, and when he discovers that Fan Jie is Du Xin Wu's friend, he kidnaps her and keeps her in his house. Du Xin Wu tries to help her to escape, but he fails. He asks Shi Kien, who does justice in the town, to ask Kong Ngai to free her, but Kong Ngai swears that Fan Jie isn't in his house and they don't find her. Later, while Du Xin Wu and Liu Fu Hai are in an inn, discussing of a plan to free Fan Jie, they find Kong Ngai and his corrupted officers who are making fun on Fan Jie by making her to be drunk and Du Xin Wu can't help but fight with Kong Ngai. Liu Fu Hai finds the gun of one of the officers and he threatens Kong Ngai with it and the two friends, together with Fan Jie, lead Kong Ngai to the court of justice and Shi Kien puts him to jail. Later, Kong Ngai's corrupted officers ask Shi Kien to free their chief, but he refuses and he and his men prepare to be besieged by the corrupted officers, who have given him and Du Xin Wu an ultimatum to free Kong Ngai. When he understands that his master and his men may be killed by the corrupted officers and their soldiers, Du Xin Wu goes to Kong Ngai's cell, and, while Shi Kien and his men stop the corrupted soldiers, the two enemies have a duel to the death and Du Xin Wu finally kills Kong Ngai. I don't know if Kong Ngai was a martial artist in the real life, but his fights in this series were very good.
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Post by reinafu on May 9, 2015 21:32:54 GMT
I'm currently watching The assassins.
Great series !! I read somewhere that it wasn't very successful regarding the audience ; I really wonder why, since there are good plots and great fights !!
I will post soon a review on it, as soon as I finish to watch the whole series and I get a replacement disc for the first story, due to freezing issues...
The more I watch Adam Cheng's martial arts series, the more I enjoy them !!!!!!
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Post by reinafu on Jan 8, 2016 23:26:31 GMT
THE ASSASSINS TTV 1990
The assassin TTV 1990
In this series made with four different stories, Adam Cheng portrays four assassins of Chinese history. As everybody can guess, there is no happy ending in this series…
Story 1 : Jing Ke
Coming form the Wei kingdom, Jing Ke arrives in the Yan kingdom, where he saves a young vagabond from soldiers, and the young boy follows him everywhere, calling him master or uncle. They meet a swordsman called Ko (or Kou, the sound was very bad and I didn’t clearly hear his name), who wants to challenge Jing Ke, but this latter doesn’t want to fight and Kou discovers that he brings a wooden sword (if I’m not mistaken, the quality of the print wasn’t very good either…). Jing Ke travels to find a swords maker and before finding him, he meets his student, Yuen, who finally leads him to his master. There, the old man makes a good sword for Jing Ke and this latter leaves the young vagabond and goes to a place where he meets another swordsman and a woman playing drums. From what I heard, the swordsman is a disciple of the same master as Jing Ke, because he calls Jing Ke “ san di “ (third disciple, if I’m not mistaken ) and they quarrel about their first “ brother ” and they finally fight and it’s the woman who badly hurts the swordsman and pushes Jing Ke to kill him. Later, jing Ke arrives in the Yan kingdom with Yuen, who has left his master, and Jing Ke stops a man called Ouyang from killing a horse seller with whom he was quarrelling and they meet Ouyang’s sister, called Ping Ping, who is an old friend of Yuen. When he sees how much strong is Jing Ke, an old man tries to make him working for him, but as Jing Ke doesn’t seem to be ready for that, with the help of another old man (both are ministers or something like that in the Yan kingdom), they more or less trap him by making him believ that Ouyang will be executed. Jing Ke meets another swordsman called Kao and they become friends and Jign Ke decides to leave the Yan kingdom in order to go to the Qin kingdom.
When he arrives, Ying Zheng’s spy (Ying Zheng is the Qin emperor) are already aware of his arrival and a general makes a fake attack in order to approach him and they become friends and later, he brings Jing Ke to a house of pleasures where he meets the boss and becomes her friend. Later, he is enrolled in Ying Zheng’s army and he discovers that the inheritor of the Yan kigdom, Tai Ze, is prisoner (as a hostage offered by his father in order to get the peace between the two kingdoms, from what I read on a forum) and is humiliated by Ying Zheng every day, and he decides to helps him to escape from the Qin kingdom (I think that it’s the mission the two old men of the Yan kigdom has asked him for). With the help of a woman Tai Ze loves, Fan Yi Nang, Jing Ke manages to help him and his best friend (or the second prince, if I heard well) to escape and he returns to the palace in order to help Yi Nang to escape too, while the boss of the club has been captured by Ying Zheng, who has fallen for her.
During their journey to return to the Yan kingdom, Jing Ke and Yi Nang fall for each other and they meet Kou, who wants to fight again with Jing Ke. This latter finale accepts the duel, but they fight with bamboo instead of swords and they become good friends and Jing Ke even ssaves Kou’s life who was poisoned by the Qin general. This latter accepts to give the antidote to Jing Ke only if this latter agrees to fight with him, and during the duel, the general is killed. Jing Ke and Yi Nang finally reach the Yan kingdom and Tai Ze is jealous because he sees that the two of them are in love. The second prince wants to marry Ping Ping, but she only loves Jing Ke and then, he goes to the inn and wants to marry one of the singers Shao Li, who is in love with Kao, and Yi Nang lures him with a woman who looks like Shao Li, and he is furious when he discovers that he has been cheated.
Later, Tai Ze tells Jing Ke that he wants to kill Ying Zheng and after some thoughts, Jing Ke tells him that he is ready to help him, but it will be difficult to approach the Qin emperor, since he is very well guarded, and that he wants the head of a former general of his, Fan Wuji, who is no one else that Yi Nang’s father. Jing Ke goes to see him and explains him what Tai Ze wants, and the old man tells him that he is tired and goes to his room, but actually, he goes to kill himself and when Jing Ke arrives, he tells him that it was the best thing to do in order that he can accomplish his mission. Then, Yi Nang wants to kill Jing Ke because she believes that it’s him who killed her father, but she loves him so much that she can’t do it and that she only cut his hair with her sword and they finally reunite.
Ouyang saves a woman (Cin Cin) who was attacked by two men and they fall for each other, but he doesn’t know that she is actually a spy for the Qin empire. When Yuen discovers that, he wants to tell Ping Ping about it, but he prefers to be sure, but unfortunately, he is killed by the spies who meet Cin Cin and Ouyang and the others are devastated by Yuen’s death. Kao has a secret fabric of weapons hidden under the club, and the spy discovers it and he and his men go there and kill everybody and try to kidnap Shao Li. This latter is protected by Yi Nang, but he is very strong and when Kao and Jing Ke arrive in order to help the two women, the spy kills and Shao Li and escapes while Yi Nang is hurt. Later, Kao and Jing Ke find the spies and they kill them. Together with Yi Nang, Jing Ke return to see the swords maker in order that he makes a weapon that he’ll be able to hide in a scrolling map in order to kill Ying Zheng. During their journey, they meet again Kou, who agrees to help Jing Ke to kill the Qin emperor and they choose a date to meet again, but unfortunately, Kou is killed by treachery during a duel and it’s Ouyang who is chosen to replace him. When this latter discovers that his wife is a spy, he wants her to kill him, but she kills herself instead and he is devastated. He tells everybody that he isn’t afraid of his mission, but it’s all the contrary. The second prince has asked a chemist to put poison on the weapon that Jing Ke will use, and he gives this latter a poisoned pill in case of the mission would fail.
Finally, Jing Ke and Ouyang arrive in the Qin kingdom and they are kept prisoners in a room without any food nor water during several days. The boo of the club has now become the queen and she is pregnant, and we discover that Cin Cin has faked her death, and that she is the maid of the queen. This latter tries to help Jing Ke, giving him a jade pendant (maybe something who could have helped him to leave the country after his mission) through the maid who finally brings some food to the two men.
Ying Zheng is happy to discover Fan Wuji’s head and Jing Ke scrolls the map little by little and when he arrives at the end, he takes the weapon and jumps to kill the king, but unfortunately, during the fight, he receives an object on his head and is hurt, which allows Ying Zheng to use his sword, while Jing ke is pushed against a pillar by the soldiers. Ying Zheng is so cruel that he doesn’t hesitate to kill his own soldiers just in order to get Jing Ke, but this latter has already eaten the poisoned pill and he just kills a dead corpse…
Story 2 : Zhuan Zhu
Zhuan Zhu is a very strong villager who lives with his mother and has a good friend called Hu, and they sell meat in the street. One day, Zhuan Zhu learns that his mother plans to marry him and he disagrees with that and escapes. Then, his mother makes Hu believe that she is dying by sadness and Hu goes to search Zhuan Zhu. Believing that his mother is dead, this latter runs to the house and he hurts a woman who is no one else than the girl he must marry, Ling (or Ying, I didn’t hear clearly). They are immediately married and Zhuan Zhu still doesn’t want his wife and humiliates her and becomes drunk.
One day,Hu and Zhuan Zhu save a swordsman called Wu Jixü (if I heard well) who later helps them to get rid of bandits who had kidnapped the women of the village, including Zhuan Zhu’s mother, and this latter and Wu become blood brothers. Wu Jixü has decided to work for Prince Guang and he asks Zhuan Zhu to go with him. Zhuan Zhu hesitates, but finally agrees and they go to another town, where Zhuan Zhu meets two other swordsmen, one called Bai Bushen and the other one Bai Li Hui (or Kui, or Gui, I didn’t hear well) and they become friends after Zhuan Zhu has saved one of their men’s who had his leg prisoner of a heavy rock. In this town, Zhuan Zhu meets a beautiful girl called Shize and this latter’s grandfather teaches him the “ fisherman kung fu “ and when Hu tells Zhuan Zhu that he has fallen for Shize, he doesn’t want to admit it and says that he only considers her as his sister, but when a young noble called Qing Zi seems to be interested in the girl, he becomes jealous and they even fight to win the marriage ribbon. Qing Zi uses a trick to win it and Zhuan Zhu protests, but his wife has come in the village and when she saw that, she escapes and Shize is furious to discover that Zhuan Zhu is married. Zhuan Zhu returns at home completely drunk and he is furious because his wife doesn’t even show any anger against him. When he awakes, she isn’t here anymore and he goes to search her and he saves her from being badly hurt by a cart, and then, he realizes that he loves her and they take a shelter from the rain in an abandoned temple and Zhuan Zhu begins to swear that he’ll never cheat his wife, but she stops him. When she sees that Zhuan Zhu is with his wife, Shize is furious and she begins to date Qing Zi in order to make Zhuan Zhu jealous, but he doesn’t want to see her anymore. Later Hu meets a young girl and her parents while he was looking for Zhuan Zhu and he saves her from being hurt by a snake. He and Zhuan Zhu eat with the family and they go to Zhuan Zhu’s house, but when they return to the girl’s house, they find that the parents have been murdered and the girl is hurt, and they find a piece of black clothe in the father’s hand. When Zhuan Zhu sees that a piece of Bai Bushen’s belt is missing, he is convinced that it’s him who killed the girl’s parents and he wants to kill him, but Bai Bushen shows him that he has the missing piece with him and that he cannot be the murderer. Then, the two Bai decide to protect Hu and his loved one, together with Zhuan Zhu and his wife and during the lantern festival, the two couples decide to go for a walk in the streets but they separate and Hu and his girl chase a masked man who finally kills them, but before dying, Hu has torn the mask and has recognized Bai Li Hui and when Zhuan Zhu arrives, he has just the time to tell him the word Bai before dying, so, once again, Zhuan Zhu is convinced that it’s Bai Bushen the murderer and Bai Li Hui arrives and tells him that he must be right, of course.
So, the two of them go to ask Prince Guang to punish Bai Bushen (the prince and Bai Li Hui has plot in order that everybody believes that he really is guilty and have even paid a fake witness), but this latter says that he is innocent and he tries to escape and he falls from a cliff and everybody thinks that he is dead.
Later, Wu Jixü meets an old man who tells him that he is looking for Bai Bushen, who was supposed to visit him the same day the couple has been killed (if I understood well) and he begins to have doubts regarding Bai Bushen’s culpability. Later, Wu helps a beggar and recognizes a former servant (or guard) of his (I think so, since the guy calls him “ shao ye”) and he brings him to the palace and helps him. He then discovers that Bai Li Hui is a spy for Prince Guang and that this latter has ordered him to kill a minister who had disagreed with him. After a last attempt to try to get Zhuan Zhu’s love, Shize agrees to marry Qing Zi and this latter’s father sends men to beat Zhuan Zhu. He is saved by Wu Jixü and they think that it’s Qing Zi who ordered this and Zhuan Zhu hurries to stop the marriage and tell the truth to Shize, who escapes with them. Later, Bai Bushen reappears and meets Ling and asks her to bring him to Zhuan Zhu and this latter still believes that he is Hu’s murderer, but Bai Bushen tells him that it might be Bai Li Hui, since he is also called Bai and the two men capture Bai Li Hui and decide to bring him to the prince, but he succeeds in escaping and he goes to see the prince in order that he helps him. It’s only due to Wu Jixü and his friend’s help that Bai Li Hui is finally unmasked and the prince orders that he is poisoned because he has no other choice if he doesn’t want that everybody knows how low he is. However, he decides to take revenge on Bai Bushen and this latter is killed in trying to protect Zhuan Zhu, his mother, his wife and Shize. After other twists in the plot, Zhuan Zhu and Ling are in a town and they go for a walk in the forest, and when they return, they discover that Qing Zi’s father (who is the king of Liao, is I heard well) has ordered his men to slaughter the whole village and Wu Jixü is sent by Prince Guang (who wants the Liao kingdom, if I understood well) to kill him, but Zhuan Zhu stops him because he would have been killed and then, Wu asks Zhuan Zhu to kill the king of Liao, but Zhuan Zhu doesn’t want to because he doesn’t want that anything bad happens to his mother and the two women he loves and he tells the same thing to Prince Guang who also comes to ask him for the same thing.
When she hears that, Zhuan Zhu’s mother kills herself in order that her son can accomplish his mission and he leaves for the town and leaves his two loves at home and Shize learns that Ling is pregnant but she didn’t tell it to her husband in order that he can fulfill his mission.
The king of Liao has invited Prince Guang to a banquet (or vice versa, I didn’t understood well) and during the banquet, Guang makes everybody believe that he has a headache and he leaves the banquet, while Zhuan Zhu arrives with a big fish in which he has hidden the sword Guang has given to him when he visited him at home in order to ask him to kill the King of Liao. Then, Zhuan Zhu uses the sword and succeeds in killing the king, while Shize arrives disguised as a guard and tries to help him to escape, but she is hurt and when he sees that, Zhuan Zhu is distracted and he is also hurt and both of them die after taking each other’s hand. Then, Prince Guang arrives and takes the kingdom without any sadness for what has happened…
Story3 : Nie Zhe
Nie Zhe lives with his mother, his sister Nie Rong and her fiancé in the kingdom of Wei. One day, his future brother-in-law sends him to his master (who is a kind of Beggar So who likes drinking a lot) who himself sends him to a master of martial arts who teaches him other martial arts than the ones he knows. When he returns at home, Nie Zhe goes to the quarry where his brother-in-law works and he helps an old man hurt by a heavy carved stone and he meets this latter’s daughter, Jie Shu and it’s love at first sight for the two of them. As the workers are mistreated by the director of the quarry, they revolt and ask Nie Zhe to talk in their name to the director. When he sees that Nie Zhe is more intelligent than the workers and that he won’t be as gullible as them, the director asks his men to get rid of him and they pay one of the workers to sabotage Nie Zhe’s brother-in-law work, and this latter is put in jail. As Jie Shu’s father finds that it’s a worker who is responsible of his friend imprisonment, he is killed by the soldiers, as well as the worker, and Jie Shu is welcomed in Nie Zhe’s family as this latter’s mother’s god-daughter.
When Nie Zhe goes in order to plead for his brother-in-law, he learns that his friend risks to be killed and the director’s men try to bribe him in order that he doesn’t side with the workers, but he finds out the truth and he fights with the soldiers who guard the quarry and, as he is very strong, he accidentally kills the director of the quarry and he has to escape with his whole family.
At the beginning of the series, Nie Zhe has met a noble called Yan Zhong (if I heard well) and they became blood brothers, and he also met a young man using a whip to fight and they became friends too. Yan Zhong has a friend called Xia Lei, who is also a noble. After several highs and lows, Nie Zhe and his family finally find a house in another town (and maybe country, I’m not sure) and Nie Zhe works in the town, selling animals skin, or food.
Meanwhile, Xia Lei decides to become a high minister in the Han kingdom (if I’m not mistaken) and he uses all means to succeed and he finally gets what he wants. He is so low that he even gives his own daughter to the Han king in order to get a high position. When his friend Yan Zhong goes to see him, he doesn’t want to see him and he despises him. Yan Zhong is very disappointed but he succeeds in being welcomed by the Han king. Xia Lei is so furious that he asks his men to get rid of him and they plot to make the Han king believe that Yan Zhong is a spy of the Wei kingdom, so, Yan Zhong is arrested and he is saved by his men. He then gets mad after Xia Lei and he decides to ask for Nie Zhe’s help in order to get revenge on Xia Lei.
He offers a lot of money to Nie Zhe’s mother, but she has understood that he wants something from her son and the chases him and asks Nie Zhe to promise her that he won’t go to the Han kingdom in order to fulfill Yan Zhong’s demand and he promises that he’ll only help his blood brother after her death.
When he learns that, Yan Zhong doesn’t hesitate to send men in order to kill Nie Zhe and make him believe that it’s Xia Lei who sent the assassins. Nie Zhe runs to his house and discovers that his mother has been murdered and Jie Shu hurt and he swears that he’ll kill Xia Lei in order to get revenge for his mother’s death.
Jie Shu is desperate and she doesn’t want that he leaves her and they finally become husband and wife and, if I understood well, she tells Nie Zhe that she’ll let him go when she’ll be sure that she is pregnant with his child. When this day comes, she prepares his clothes, his sword and his shoes and she leaves the house in order that he doesn’t see her crying when he’ll leave the house.
During his journey, Nie Zhe finds one of Yan Zhong’s men and this latter leads him to his master. When this latter knows that Nie Zhe has finally decided to help him and in order to convince him to really do it, he transforms himself as an old man with white hair and doesn’t hesitate to break his teeth and when he sees him, Nie Zhe is more and more furious against Xia Lei and he promises Yan Zhong that he’ll avenge him. In the Han kingdom, Nie Zhe meets again with the whip fighter and the two of them go to kill Xia Lei and Nie Zhe literally cuts him in two pieces. In order that no one can recognize him, Nie Zhe disfigures himself after the murder and kills himself.
When she has learnt that both her brother and her sister-in-law have disappeared from their house, Nie Rong has understood that her brother has gone to the Han Kingdom and she leaves her baby and her husband in order to go there. At the same moment Nie Zhe dies, she feels that he is dead and when she arrives in the town and sees his dead body hanged on a pillar, she cries and tell all the people around what is the whole story that lead her brother to become an assassin, and then she kills herself.
The “ Beggar So “ alike master comes to Nie Zhe’s family grave and finds Jie Shu and he understands that she is his wife and he tells her to go with him and become his god-daughter.
Story 4 : Yü Rang
Yü Rang works as a soldier for the ministers Fan and Zhong in the Jin kingdom and he has a best friend called Tin Qi (if I understood well). As the two families despise him, he decides to leave the country, but Fan’s son chases him with his men in order to kill him. Among his men, there is Tin Qi. Yü Rang takes shelter in the house of the woman who loves Tin Qi, Hui Hui, who lives there with her grandfather. As Yü Rang doesn’t want to go out, Fan tells him that he doesn’t go out, he’ll kill Tin Qi, so, Yü Rang goes out and Fan forces Tin Qi to fight with his best friend. The Prince Zhi comes and stops the fight and goes away with Yü Rang, who becomes his most important soldier, which provokes Minister Tian’s jealousy. Zhi’s daughter Xiang Ling falls for Yü Rang, but he only thinks of being a good soldier for Prince Zhi. This latter decides to defeat Fan and Zhong and he allies with the kingdoms Han, Wei and Zhao and the two ministers are killed and Tin Qi escapes.
Xiang Ling is very jealous of the new wife of her father, Tie, and she doesn’t want to be kind with her, but when she falls ill and she discovers that it’s Ti who has taken care of her day and night, she finally becomes friend with her. Later, during a banquet, Yü Rang finally meets Zhi’s wife and he discovers that she is his own wife he had lost ten years ago : during a duel, he had been badly hurt by a man who left a scar on his forehead and kidnapped his wife, who thought that her husband was dead.
During a walk in the forest with Zhi and some men, Tin Qi tries to kill Zhi and Yü Rang stops him and they fight. Ti Qi’s armour is suddenly broken and Yü Rang kills him by accident. He is so devastated to have killed his best friend that he falls ill and Xiang Ling cures him. When she hears that maybe Yü Rang won’t recover, Tie goes to see him by night and when he discovers her, they cry in each other’s arms and Zhi arrives very furious (Tie’s maid has told him what happened) and Minister Tian, (who was suspicious when he saw how Tie and Yü Rang had react when they met during the banquet) puts Yü Rang in jail, while Zhi beats his wife. This latter explains him that actually, she is Yü Rang’s wife and, after a discussion with an old minister who is Yü Rang’s friend, Zhi decides to give Tie back to Yü Rang and let them live together. When she learns that, Xiang Ling is so furious that she leaves the palace and Yü Rang promises Zhi that he’ll bring his daughter back and he asks his servant Xiao Bai to take care of his wife.
During her journey, Xiang Ling (disguised as a man) meets Zhao Wang, who helps her when she is chased by bandits and while they are attacked, Yü Rang arrives and helps them and even saves Zhao Wang’s life, because he has been bitten by a snake. The two men finally become blood brothers and, while they are returning to Zhi’s palace with Xiang Ling, they are attacked by Minister Tian’s men, this latter having asked them to kill both Yü Rang and Xiang Ling. One of the two assassins is killed by Yü Rang, but the other is saved by Prince Zhao’s men.
When they return to the palace, Xiang Ling discovers that her father has another wife, who is a courtesan he met thanks to Minister Tian, and that the second wife is pregnant and she becomes furious.
Zhi then decides to invade Zhao kingdom and he allies with Wei and Han kingdoms in order to succeed. Though Yü Rang doesn’t agree with his plans, as well as the old minister, Zhi listens to Minister Tian’s ideas and the old minister dies. Then, Yü Rang elaborates a strategy to win the war, he diverts the river in order that the town is destroyed by the flood during the storm. Wei and Han kingdom then decide to ally with Zhao and Minister Tian, and they also divert the river, which lead to Zhi and his men being surrounded by the river. When he discovers that his allies have betrayed him, and when Minister Tian tells him that his wife is actually his mistress and that she is pregnant with his own baby, Zhi is furious and there is a fight, and he is decapitated by Zhao, who takes Zhi’s head as a cup for his wine.
Yü Rang succeeds in escaping and he hurries to the palace in order to save Xiang Ling and his wife, and they escape with Xiao Bai, but Xiang Ling’s maid, Xiao Yü, can’t follow them (Xiao Yü and Xiao Bai are in love).
Yü Rang and Xiao Bai swear to avenge Zhi’s death and they go to Zhao’s palace and decapitate Minister Tian, but Yü Rang is hurt on the leg and they are prisoners. Zhao asks Yü Rang what he wants and Yü Rang tells him that he wants to avenge Zhi’s death because he is loyal to him. Zhao’s elder son and his uncle want Zhao to kill the two prisoners, but Zhao’s younger son, who is no one else than Zhao Wang, asks his father to let them go, because Yü Rang is his friend. Zhao agrees to let them go and Yü Rang asks him to give him both Minister Tian and Zhi’s heads and he leaves, together with Xiao Bai. However, Zhao’s elder son and his uncle take men and chase them in order to kill them. They are helped by a former officer of Zhi, but he is killed and fortunately, Zhao Wang arrives and tells his brother that if he wants to kill Yü Rang, he’ll have to kill him first and there is a fight. When he sees that his brother shoots an arrow to Yü Rang, he throws his sword. The sword cuts the arrow and kills his brother and then, the fight stops and both Wang and Yü Rang holds their dead friend and brother and separate with sadness.
Yü Rang, Xiang Ling, Tie and Xiao Bai go to another town and Xiang Ling is so desperate because she doesn’t have any family, that Tie asks Yü Rang to marry her and they both swear in front of Zhi’s funeral tablet that they’ll give him a descendants (if I understood well). Later, Xiao Bai and Tie meet with Xiao Yü and the two servants marry. Yü Rang still thinks of avenging Zhi’s death and Tie is desperate. Then Xiang Ling gives birth to a boy and Yü Rang and Xiao Bai then leave the house and ask Xiao Yü to take care of the two wives and the baby.
In order that Zhao doesn’t recognize him, Yü Rang asks Xiao Bai to cut his hair in order that he looks like a beggar, he rubs his face with some herbs that leave buttons and scars on his face and he asks Xiao Bai to return to his family and take care of them, while he begins to beg in the town. One day, he meets his two wives in the street and when Xiang Ling recognizes his voice, he escapes and swallows charcoal in order to transform his voice too and later, he goes to his house to beg some food and there is only Tie who recognizes him and is desperate when he leaves ; he also goes to Hui Hui’s house and she gives him some food, but she is not sure to have recognized him, while his grandfather knows who the beggar is. Yü Rang also meets Zhao Wang, who finally recognizes him after he’s gone and he is desperate to see what his friend has become. While he is taking a walk on a bridge, Zhao is attacked by Yü Rang and this latter has to fight with Zhao Wang, who begs him to give up his vengeance. When he sees how faithful to Zhi Yü Rang is, Zhao hesitates to kill him and Yü Rang asks him to let him at least destroy his clothes with his sword before killing him. Zhao agrees and after cutting the coat with his sword, Yü Rang kills himself and Zhao falls ill and dies several days later.
I didn’t find many informations on Jing Ke, Zhuan Zhu, Nie Zhe and Yü Rang on the internet (only a few lines on each of them) and I don’t know how faithful to History this series is, but it’s a very good one. Jing Ke and Yü Rang’s stories are the most serious ones. There is a little bit of humour in Zhuan Zhu and Nie Zhe’s stories and, in my opinion, these two ones are the most touching ones, showing how bad people have taken advantage on two naïve men by using their loyalty and righteousness in order to kill others. I read somewhere that this series didn’t have a great audience and I really wonder why : Adam Cheng’s performance is very good in this series and he succeeds in portraying four different characters without using the same way of acting, and each of them is endearing.
I don’t know who is the woman who sings the themes, but the songs are very good too, as well as the martial arts, though the fights are very quick so, it’s a little bit difficult to see all what happens, and sometimes they are short too, but it’s good fights. I really enjoyed this series ; it’s just too bad that the quality print wasn’t very good, as well as the sound, and there was even an episode without any sound, but well, at least, I finally got it and I don’t regret it !!
Additional comment : I read somewhere that Nie Zhe's story was also told in the Shaw Brothers' movie The assassin, Wang Yu playing Adam's role in the movie and from what I remember, it's true since when I saw the scene with Nie Zhe's sister crying and telling everybody who the dead body was, it rang a bell in my mind...
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