The Drive of Life (TV) 2007

This is a long series, consists of 60 episodes. It's quite interesting, actually, about the Wah family and their dream to make Chinese cars.

The main characters are 3 Wah brothers: Wah Man-hon, Wah Man-hung and Wah Man-shek. This series were joint-production of Hong Kong and China. I knew Damian Lau and Michael Miu, but I was not familiar at all with the actor who played the 2nd brother Wah Man-hung. The acting was also different: Damian Lau and Michael Lau were expressive, while the mainland actor was calm and reserved. In the story, Wah Man-hon (Lau) and Wah Man-shek (Miu) had been living for years in Hong Kong, while Wah Man-hung left in Peking /Beijing.

Wah Man-hon is the manager and the brain, Wah Man-hung the technician and Wah Man-shek the salesman. The road is difficult, but they finally succeeded to found Hua-che car factory, with the first Chinese car machine developed by themselves --> so they didn't have to depend on Japan anymore. They succeeded in fabricating 100% Chinese cars. Because of this Wah family, Chinese cars are now roaming the world.

Wah Man-hung (Liao Jing-sheng), Wah Man-shek (Michael Miu), Wah Man-hon (Damian Lau)

Hui Cham-yan (Gigi Wong), Wah Ching-yue (Jessica Hsuan), Ngai Wing-biu (Joe Ma)

Wing Sau-fung (Charmaine Sheh) and Wah Chun-pong (Raymond Lam)

While the car dream is interesting, I find the drama side is so-so. There are intrigues and revenges. Sometimes they are easy to forgive, sometimes a little matter can be huge. Like, 1) Wah Man-hung hated his older brother Wah Man-hon for years because Wah Man-hon cheated him when they were choosing who would be going to Hong Kong and who would be staying in Peking. 2) Wah Man-hon's wife, Hui Cham-yan, had a big fight with her husband because he had not told her that his ex-girlfriend visited him in Hong Kong (from Peking). He just met the ex-girlfriend to say goodbye, nothing else. 3) Wing Sau-fung hated the Wah family after finding out that Wah Man-hon had once been her mother's boyfriend. Later, her mother committed suicide after Hui Cham-yan told her the truth, that she had killed her husband (Wing Sau-fung's father). I really can't understand why Wing Sau-fung put the blame all on the Wah family because her mother was also in the wrong. The worst of all, in the peak of her anger, she demanded that Wah Man-hon and his wife both kneel down for her forgiveness. They were her boyfriend's parents... it was very inappropriate.

This series has two antagonists, Ngai Tin-hang and his nephew Ngai Wing-biu. The latter is secretive and calculative. The amazing thing is, every time his wife finds out about his wrongdoing, he seems to be able to find a reasonable explanation - until the climax when she sees herself what her husband can do.

I love the sub-song 'Searching For You in Loving Memories' sung by Raymond Lam. The melody is familiar, like I have ever heard it years ago.

Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion (2006)

I would like to try to read the original book which this TV series was based on, if there is any in English. I only have read one book by Huang Yi, A Step Into The Past, and enjoyed it a lot. In this Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion - I must say the English title is horrible and not interesting at all - we are taken into the beginning of the Ming Dynasty era. I had never read this topic before, so this series were very interesting to me.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese people were ruled by Mongolians, the Yuan Dynasty. I am not familiar with the (real) history, but in this series, the present emperor had been one of the generals in the fights against Mongolians. An oracle told him that a descendant of Kubilai Khan would bring his demise, so to play safe, he killed all Mongolian children at the same age as the Mongolian Prince.

The Emperor ordered the Mongolians to pay hard tax and took men, even the old and young,  to become slaves. The Mongolians, led by Pong Pan, tried to find the Kubilai Khan's descendant and overturn Ming.

I like how the antagonists and protagonists here are not really bad. Both sides are fighting for their own country. Some characters do have weaknesses, like too suspicious, too greedy, ... I also like the ending, where The Chinese and The Mongolians could have peace on both sides and live together in harmony.