Burning Ice (2017)

I heard that this Chinese mini-series was about a serial killer and since I like detective stories - and it was only 12 episodes - I decided to give it a try.

The police nicknamed the mysterious killer as The Snowman because he built a snowman beside the victim. It had been 3 victims already and the police couldn't solve the case, so they hired a new help, a district officer named Yan Liang. Yan Liang had been a bright detective, but because he had tried to cover a kid's crime - thinking that the kid had a good future, that he should had been forgiven - it was difficult for Yan Liang to get a promotion.

Meanwhile, Guo Yu, a young intern in a lawyer's office, helped his old friend, Hui Ru in a lawsuit. Hui Ru's husband had just been murdered -being one of The Snowman's victims - and the legal wife Mrs Li, wanted Hui Ru to return the restaurant given to her by her husband. Hui Ru refused to give up the restaurant because it was where her brother made his living. Mrs Li sent thugs to terrorize Hui Ru so Guo Yu introduced Hui Ru to Blonde, a criminal, to counter-attack Mrs Li. Unfortunately, Blonde only wanted to take advantage of Hui Ru.

This resulted in the murder of Blonde. The Snowman helped Hui Ru and Guo Yu to cover the crime. However Yan Liang knew that Hui Ru and Guo Yu were guilty. Yan Liang also knew that The Snowman was no other than his old friend, the one who found out about Yan Liang's mistake years ago. It was rather strange, actually, that Yan Liang could guess who the killer was in such a short time. Yan Liang grilled Guo Yu and Hui Ru in the police HQ, hoping that they would confess so the police could arrest The Snowman.

The original title of this drama is 无证之罪, which I think means 'no proof of the crime'*. This Chinese title is easier for me to remember the story in years to come. [*Correct me, my Chinese is far worse than my English.]

In my opinion the young actors who played Guo Yu and Hui Ru were not convincing at all. I think they were models who picked up by the producers to star in this drama. Also, it seemed to me that the young actor who played Guo Yu wore eye liners.😑 It was not clear what Guo Yu's job in the lawyer's office. His boss was a crook who gambled and helped rich clients by every means. His best friend, also his room-mate, gossiping and reporting him to the boss. Hui Ru, on the other hand, was a kept-woman and didn't work at all.

Dai Xu plays Guo Yu. I think he wore eyeliners

 The jokes were also not to my taste. They failed to make my laugh... or was it because this was a creepy drama, not a comedy. It was cold like the setting of the story: there was a lot of snow from beginning to end. The reason for the killing didn't make sense like in many fictions, so it was okay, I think.

Judge Dee - R.H. Van Gulik

Lately I read Judge Dee books by Robert Van Gulik and have been enjoying them a lot. Before this I only knew a Chinese judge character named Judge Bao - from some popular TV series. Only after I watched movies Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame and Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, only I knew about this Judge Dee character.

A judge in Chinese administration is responsible for registration of births, deaths, marriages; land registrations, tax collection, the hearing of civil and criminal cases and punishing criminals. In this Judge Dee books the writer focused on the criminal cases, so that is why the movie version changed  the title from 'judge' to 'detective' so the western audience can grasp the meaning easily.

Judge Dee Jen-chieh was a real historical person, lived in the Tang dynasty. He lived from 630 till 700 A.D. Later he became a minister of the Imperial Court. In Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame we could see Dee vs Empress Wu, and this was historically correct. In 692 A.D. Dee was sent to prison, accused of treason. He then petitioned the Empress, who exiled him in P'eng-tse.

In the stories, Judge Dee was helped by Sergeant Hoong Liang, and later also by his three lieutenants Ma Joong, Chiao Tai dan Tao Gan. From the Magistrate of Peng-lai, to Han-yuan, Poo-yang, Lan-fang, Pei-chow, until the capital where he became Lord Chief Justice.

The writer, a Dutch man,  took the plots from Chinese mystery stories and illustrated the books himself. He mentioned, however, that the clothes styles were taken from Ming dynasty era.

An illustration from The Chinese Maze Murders by Van Gulik

Van Gulik (1910 - 1967) entered Dutch foreign service in 1935 and later became an ambassador to Japan and Korea.

It's hard to pick a favourite book from the collection, but I was impressed with the Chinese Nail Murders, where Judge Dee was almost defeated by a woman, when his coroner could not find the sign of a murder. The Chinese Bell Murders was also as captivating, imagine finding a skeleton under a giant bell; and it was a tragic story, too.

The King of Legend (2012)

I finished watching this series yesterday. It's Chinese version of The Count of Monte Cristo. Compared to the movie version with Jim Caviezel and the French mini-series with Gérard Depardieu, I personally think this Chinese version is closer to the original book. It’s rather hard to believe that the Chinese are better than the French in adapting the book, but I think it’s mainly because of the running time. The Chinese series consists of 39 episodes (@ appr. 41 minutes each) while the French series are only of 400 minutes.

This series is rather slow, full of dialogues, and lack of actions. However it’s very riveting and captivating. I think whoever wrote the script must have loved the original story very much.

In this series, the time setting and location were changed. The main character here was Lin Tian-long, a sailor from Jiao’ao village, who lived with his old father. He had a beautiful  fiancée, Mei-zi. Gu Siang-ru and Lei Li-gang who were jealous of him, sent an accusation letter to the police. At that time, Yuan Shih-kai was in power and Dr Sun Yat-sen was the opposition. The letter accused Lin Tian-long to be an agent of Sun Yat-sen. This letter was written in Wan Rong’s café. The prosecutor, Tang Zhen knew at once that Lin Tian-long was innocent, but because the letter implicated his future father-in-law, Tang Zhen sent Lin Tian-long to Prison No.7, a remote prison in an island where nobody ever escaped.

Liu Yun-long plays Lin Tian-long

 18 years in prison, Lin Tian-long befriended the ex-emperor’s teacher and learnt many things. He finally escaped from Prison No.7 and gained a treasure. He was richer than a country.

If in the original story, the treasure was buried in an island. In this version, the wealth was kept in a bank. The translation said it was HSBC. The old teacher gave Lin Tian-long the password to get the treasure.

Back to Jiao’ao, Lin Tian-long found that his father had been dead and Mei-zi married to Lei Li-gang. Wan Rong, the café owner, told him that Lei Li-gang forced his father to drink poison. Lin Tian-long gave a big diamond to Wan Rong and his wife, and this diamond led to Wan Rong’s wife’ death and Wan Rong was sent to prison for killing his wife. This couple reminded of The Thénardiers from Les Misérables. The wife was very irritating, especially with close-up shots.

The scene where Lin Tian-long saved his ex-boss, the owner of Luck the ship, was very touching.

Meanwhile, Gu Siang-ru, Lei Li-gang and Tang Zheng all had climbed the ladder of success and society. They all now lived in Shanghai. Gu Siang-ru was very rich and had a bank. Lei Li-gang had become a general. Tang Zheng was a successful prosecutor.

In this series, Tang Zheng and his right-hand man, Ah Fuk, were very mean. Ah Fuk was some kind of hitman who targeted Tang Zheng’s enemies. For example: Lin Tian-long’s friend, Ah Zheng, back in Jiao’ao petitioned the prosecutor to take another look at Lin Tian-long’s case. Tang Zheng sent Ah Fuk to silence him (but Ah Zheng survived). Tang Zheng went as far as reporting his own future father-in-law to the police, which led to a massacre.

In Shanghai, Lin Tian-long patiently set traps for his enemies. He wanted them to perish in their own desires. I think the innocent victim here was Gu Siang-ru’s daughter.

The ending was very good. Lin Tian-long, Ah Zheng and Li San together roamed the sea. It also showed Lin Tian-long read The Count of Monte Cristo book.

Please note that South Korea also has a series with the same title, but a different story.