Chor Lau Heung - Song Siu Ching digital painting by Leanne Chau

Painted by Leanne Chau

I just found out that a reader left a comment to the TVB CLH blogpost (TVB has uploaded all CLH episodes in Cantonese in YouTube). Leanne Chau is a painter, and she actually has painted a digital painting of Chor Lau Heung and Song Siu Ching!

Above is the painting, and this is her site. Is it not a truly gorgeous painting?

Leanne, thanks a lot! Keep them coming!

The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung TVB 1984 in YouTube!

OMG! I just found out that TVB uploaded the New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung 1984 in YouTube! They just uploaded the whole 40 series five days ago on 19 June! That's so great! Here's the first episode, and you can follow the whole 40 series in YouTube. It's in Cantonese, which is a delight to me, although it lacks English subtitles.

Also, Michael Miu's 60th birthday was exactly last week on 18 June 2018. Happy 60th birthday, Michael! I have been remiss in posting an article about it because of my schedule, but I do remember it that day. I haven't searched for Michael's latest photo, but he definitely didn't look like a ~60 years old man last year!

Hmmm... what a coincidence that TVB released all CLH 1984 episodes a day after Michael's 60th birthday. I take that as a divine providence, though perhaps TVB did actually time the upload to honour Michael's role (and Barbara's of course) in making this series a classic.

Have fun watching the official CLH 1984 on YouTube!

The Vast Desert 大沙漠 Part 2

Source

CLH et al went inside the house and found only one stone statue of Kuan Yin. They went out again when Little Phoa said that Stone Camel was so scared. CLH deduced that the blind Stone Camel realised who killed thos burglars. When Chor tai-gor returned to the crime scene, he realised that the Kuan Yin stone statue was gone. In its place was a pan full of braised beef that was so inviting to the hungry men. Always wary, CLH, Wu and Ki Ping-yan did not eat the beef dish. A dog barked inside and ate the dish without any sign of food poisoning. Still, our friends knew that whoever killed the burglars had not only left the food, he/she had annoyed these wanderers by releasing a dog who immediately ate the food. Disgusted, Wu threw away the beef dish outside. After a while, they heard a scream outside and realised that Little Phoa died eating the poisonous braised beef that Wu threw out of the window.

CLH now realised his enemy was the Stone Kuan Yin, a very skilful swordswoman who was also very good at the art of disguise. She killed the burglars and disguised herself as a stone statue. In the previous story, the Stone Kuan Yin also ordered Chiu Ling-siok to ruin her own face so that the Stone Kuan Yin remained the prettiest woman on earth (or at least in the Central Plains).

The Vast Desert 大沙漠 Part 1

The Gobi Desert (source)

As I’m watching nervously for Hurrican Irma to batter Florida USA (Hannah, stay safe!!!), I’m reading the second Chor Lau-heung novel from Ku Lung titled “The Vast Desert” 大沙漠. It’s over 200 pages of PDF as well, so I will try to finish reading it in 4-5 weeks. I read this novel in the Indonesian version; I suspect the translator is the same with the one who translated “Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea” 血海飄香. The writing style belongs to a slightly older period, perhaps the 80s, which in itself is nice to read, albeit a bit confusing at times. The chapter in PDF started with “Chapter 13”, which is weird. It does not follow the chapters in the last novel, which ended in Chapter 17. “The Vast Desert” has ended in “Chapter 28”, so it has 15 chapters. I’ll just assume Chapter 13 is Chapter 1 then.

Part 1 (Chapters 1-3)

After his adventure in the last novel, Chor Lau-heung returned to the Fragrant Boat in the hope that he’d get a delicious lunch from the girls. However, So Yung-yung, Li Hung-chao and Sung Tim-yi were nowhere to be seen. Upon finding a black pearl on top of a pile of yellow sand, Chor tai-gor’s blood boiled. He deduced that Black Pearl, the son of the Desert King we saw in the “Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea” 血海飄香. Black Pearl left a note: “You took my horse, I take your women.” Capitally disturbed, CLH rode his horse (well, Black Pearl’s) towards the Western Desert (I assume the Gobi Desert).

Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea part 4

This post summarises Chapters 11-16 of the "Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea" (血海飄香) of the Chor Lau-heung series. I have wrapped up the story and provided my short commentaries as well. I like the story, and I hope you like it as well!

The horse reminds me of the desert horse Chor tai-gor used in this story. Source: Xue Daixun

Chapter 11 (CLH tracked Ling-siok)

Chapter 10 ended with Chor Lau-heung evading Kaypang Pek-giok-mo’s poisonous claws by feeding his opponent the painting he carried inside his robe. Yet, Pek knew that the roll of paper was important to CLH, thus he didn’t want to give it so easily.  Despite CLH’s verbal tactics, Pek got nosy and opened the roll to see what was in it. He frowned.

“Why do you keep a painting of the late Leader Jin-lo’s widow?”

CLH couldn’t believe his luck. The beautiful Chiu Ling-siok apparently married the late Kaypang leader!

Yet, she apparently had changed her name into Yap Siok-tin, for Pek didn’t recognize who Chiu Ling-siok was. Pek also said that Mrs Jin had always been an amazing and pious woman, such that the sinful Pek admired her. CLH thus deduced that Chiu Ling-siok had turned a new leaf after marrying the former Kaypang Leader.

Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea part 3

This post summarises Gu Long's "Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea" Chapters 8-10 (total 16 chapters). I have finished summarising Chapter 10, and I am approaching the end of the story. Should be able to wrap the summary this weekend. 

So far, the mystery here is about a letter... (Source)

Chapter 8 (CLH finally found a clue)

Chor Lau-heung dove into Tay-bing Lake, pursued by the hypnotised Fell Cut. Here we learn again that Chor tai-gor was an excellent swimmer and diver (duh, his house was a boat!), and he was very fast and agile in the water. CLH almost effortlessly immobilised Fell Cut underwater and brought him back to the lake shore. CLH then dove back to the lake and pursued the harpist, who turned out to be a white-robed monk playing the zither on a small boat. The monk didn’t seem to realise that his zither had a lethal effect to Fell Cut. The monk was none other than Biau-ceng Bu-hoa, the monk CLH saw in Chapter 3 (Bu-hoa = flowerless). The monk recognized CLH despite the latter’s disguise. Giving up, CLH unmasked himself.

Chor tai-gor then explained to Bu-hoa how three people had recognized him today. The first one was the monk himself, the second one was Fell Cut, and the third one the killer. Bu-hoa threw away his zither into the lake upon hearing Fell Cut’s name for the latter was a murderer, hence Bu-hoa’s zither has been tainted (for Fell Cut had heard its melody). Bu-hoa later discussed the killer’s Jinsut; that it originated in Arab and was brought to Japan via the Mainland.  CLH returned to the lakeshore, installed Yat Dim-hung safely on the branch of a large tree, and returned to Kilam. He reintroduced himself properly as CLH to Leng Chiu-hun (who just woke up with a prostitute sleeping in his bed – gosh…). Leng reported that he heard of a stranger monk in town (named Thian-ing-cu) who wore a long thin blade as a weapon.

Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea part 2

Since Chor Lau-heung is apparently a controlled drinker, I now feel that
this gorgeous art by Xuedaixun is appropriate here

Continuing on last week's summary of "Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea" (Chapters 1-3), here I post the summary of Ch 4-7. This Chor Lau-heung story from Ku Lung was written in 16 chapters, so I should be able to cover all chapters in four posts. From Chapter 7, each chapter seems to be quite long, hence it does take me a while to read and summarise each chapter.



Chapter 4 (CLH taking a fake ID)

The Sin-cui-kiong swordswoman confirmed that the dead female was not part of her school. Also, a young woman in her school committed suicide after getting pregnant, just after the famous poison disappeared from her school. The woman (who finally revealed that her name was Kiong Lam-yan) gave Chor Lau-heung one month to find the thief and the murderer.

Not one to shy away from misteries, CLH accepted the challenge. However, he still had time to day-dream about Miss Kiong’s pretty face, such that Li Hung-chao commented that he “won’t find her beautiful anymore when she shoves her sword on your throat next month!”

CLH gleefully replied that Miss Kiong used no sword as a weapon, to which Hung-chao riposted as she battered her eyelids, “Ah, so she used a kitchen knife, eh?”

Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea

Sorry for the two weeks' hiatus. Was still immersing myself in the blissful realisation that Candy and Terry were finally reunited, ahahahaha! But I'm back now!

This tai-hap has the Chor Lau-heung vibe to me (Source)

Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea - a Chor Lau Heung original story by Ku Lung

I’m currently reading an original story of Chor Lau Heung by Ku Lung (Gu Long) in Indonesian. It seems the original title is Xue Hai Piao Xiang (血海飄香, Hyut3 Hoi2 Piu1 Heung1), but the Indonesian PDF was only titled as “The Romantic Thief” (“Maling Romantis”). The literal translation of the characters should be “blood, sea, float/flutter, fragrant”, which may be loosely translated to “Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea”. The PDF is 212 pages, and I’m only on Chapter 3. But it’s actually quite interesting, such that I’m determined to finish it.

It will take some time to finish it, though. One of the reasons is because the names in the story is written in Hakka (Hokkien), hence I have to get used to reading through the names. I can recognize Chor tai-gor’s name immediately though (“Coh Liu-hiang”), as well as So Yung-yung (So Yong-yong), Li Hung-chao (Li Ang-siu) and Sung Tim-yi (Song Thiam-ji). For the benefit of the readers, I’ll try to summarise this story per chapter. I won’t bother with standardizing the names; I will just write the Hokkien names in Hokkien, except for Chor Lau-heung’s and his adopted sisters; I’ll write them in Cantonese. If Wu Tit-fa appears, I will definitely write his name in Cantonese as well.

Tinker Belle

Credit

The girl walked nervously towards the bush, her red bells tinkling merrily as she walked, betraying her trepidation. Upon arriving at said bush, she looked behind to see that no one was following her before entering the bush, carefully such that the branches did not unravel a single thread of her sky blue dress. The dress, as blue as the sky above the gentle river behind her, was, after all, her favourite.

The person she was waiting for was sitting in the bush, waiting for her, fidgeting. She tsk-ed.

“You know, Chor tai-gor is the thief here, not me! I don’t like this hide and seek!”

“Well…You’re supposed to be his adopted sister, surely you share the trait in hide and seek…”

The girl glared. Although she had been missing him earlier, seeing him sitting like a coward annoyed her. She snapped. “Shut up! Now tell me that you’re ready for this.” When the person she talked to mumbled, her blood boiled. She stomped her left foot and, as she said, “I knew it! You’ll never be ready!” she turned back to leave.

"The Dream on a Floating Boat" - a CLH 1984 fan fiction

Despite distancing himself from the Princess, Chor Lau-heung was just a normal man. I often wonder what he thought of when he was just alone with Siu-ching on the boat... Contains a link to the mature content. This old MV of mine has the background story...

"You're beautiful" Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV from Icha74 on Vimeo.

The waning moon was high in the sky when several coastal birds suddenly flew past the floating boat. Chor Lau-heung absent-mindedly watched the birds flew past, wondering how similar he was, just recently, to the birds. Just recently, before he met her. Song Siu-ching, the girl who turned his world upside down.

He remembered their argument, or rather, her objection to his "indifferent" attitude to her love. Then, after he made peace with her, she consoled him about his mistakes. And just over an hour ago, he managed to persuade her to sleep in So Yung-yung's cabin, because the extra cabin wasn't ready yet. Her tiredness was the only thing that made her obliging to his suggestion; she yawned as she said good night. She asked if he was going to sleep soon; he said yes.

Yet, he couldn’t sleep. Too many things in his mind that just prevented him from sleeping that night. He did try to sleep in his cabin, but after an hour of tossing and turning, he gave up and returned to the deck.

Chor Lau Heung’s love to Song Siu Ching

Siu Ching asking if Chor tai-gor liked her (Ep 11)

Phuong has recently left some very nice comments on my posts, particularly the Chor Lau Heung posts. Thank you, Phuong, truly appreciate your presence! Some of Phuong’s recent comments were about CLH’s love to SSC, for I did indeed express doubt on how much Chor tai-gor loved SC.

I like Phuong’s comments on the matter of CLH’s love to SC; she explained it systematically that it works for me, who tends to prefer someone expressing his love, instead of just showing his love. Since Phuong’s comments were posted on a CLH episode recap (Eps11-16) that I wrote in September 2015, I asked her if I could copy her comments onto a new post. With her permission, here they are. I label her comments as “Phuong” with normal fonts and mine as “Icha” with blue sentences. Thanks a lot, Phuong!

Phuong:

I rewatched CLH again (I lost count of the # of times I watched it lol) and I don't think I ever question his love for SC. He seems to be attracted to her the first time he met her as can be seen in the way he treats/talks to her. He only called her miss Song like once (when he introduced her to Zo) and the rest of the time, he naturally called her by her given name vs him calling miss Wah/Koh/Kam thru the whole movie. He also touches her /holding her hands every chance he got. I do agree that they didn't realized their feelings for each other until episode 11 at Dr Cheong's place. It was then that SC realized she loves him and when she asked to call his name again and cried that it touches a part of CLH's heart and he realized he has feelings for her (deeper than just friends) when he was told she had left, hence the shock/disappointment/sadness.

"A Capital Mistake" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 fanfiction

The dreadful feeling when Chor Lau Heung realised his mistake (Ep 27)

Chor Lau Heung made mistakes, but never at this scale. He beat himself for it, he tried to fix it, and he still lived with his regrets until quite some time. But someone needs to tell him to forgive himself. Hence this fanfiction, dedicated to all readers who have made mistakes in their lives...including me.

-xxx-

A Capital Mistake

That mistake shook Chor Lau Heung to the core. He had made mistakes in the past, of course, but not one of this scale. One that basically cost two noble lives, made a young man lost one arm, and blinded a very fine matriarch. In agony, he kept playing the scenes in his head. Him not listening to the Kams, him not stopping for a moment to calm down and consider that they might have been right all along. Him accusing them, him easily defeating them due to his superb skills.

Then...the heart-stopping moment, the fear that suddenly grabbed him mercilessly, the bitter truth moment when he realised he'd done a capital error that couldn't be fixed. The floor that suddenly seemed to dissolve and the feeling of the Earth swallowing him, such that he had to grab onto something to stabilise himself. The painful feeling that he'd done something so irreversible that he couldn't even contemplate to forgive himself. The nerve-wrecking guilty feeling he'd been experiencing to date, despite him having confronted the Kam family's attacker.

"The Dragon Dancing under the Moonlight" - a CLH 1984 fanfiction

The wedding night between the Wanderer/King of Thieves and the Princess. Shyly emerges, triggered by the very few sensual scenes between Chor Lau Heung and Song Siu Ching in the New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung 1984 (TVB Hong Kong). Rated R.

Being the 80s production, one of the very few electrifying scenes in CLH 84 is this...

-xxx-

Ignoring his thumping heart, the Wanderer opened the door and entered the bedchamber. A silver strand of moonlight fell into the chamber floor from the lattice window as the amber light of some candles warmed up the rose-scented bedchamber. The object of his excitements and anticipation was sitting on the bed, decked to the nines in red, glowing in the candlelight. He couldn't see her face right now, but during the ceremony a few hours ago, he did steal a glance to see the beautiful face thinly covered by a red veil. She was beautiful, like a mysterious flower; a rose or chrysanthemum, shyly smiling at him. Now, he saw her, his Princess, his Bride, his wife, her hands fidgeting with a red silk handkerchief. He realised she was nervous. The trouble was that, unexpectedly, he was too.

Barbara Yung's letters part 1: Chor Lau Heung

Barbara and Michael during a CLH 1984 press conference

I've been wondering for a while how Barbara was when she was alive. I wrote in May that she might suffer depression during her last months. But what of her in the beginning and midst of her career? What of her before that? Rob Radboud said that Barbara was a gentle person who would sacrifice everything for love. I watched a small documentary with her talking, she looked lovely and lively. But is there another way of understanding her aside from those sources?

Then it occurred to me after reading some unrelated (duh) letters of Van Gogh. Letters! Jane Austen left letters that made us understand who she was, what she was like. Also Van Gogh, and other authors/artists. Nowadays we can glimpse what a person is like through their social media postings. But letters are truer, for they are not intended for public viewing. Of course, unlike reading letters of Jane Austen or Van Gogh who had passed away centuries ago, it's more of a breach of privacy to read letters of the deceased when they passed away not long ago (Barbara is in this category). But Barbara's letters are already available online from Rob's website (previously hosted at www.barbarayung.net), hence I feel okay in discussing them here.

"Eyes on Me" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV

"Eyes on Me" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV from Icha74 on Vimeo.


I have loved "Eyes on Me" from Final Fantasy VIII since I found it in 2014. Then I stopped listening to it until recently, when I thought the theme would suit Song Siu Ching's feelings for Chor Lau Heung. I think I was right. "Eyes on Me" by Faye Wong, music composed by Nobuo Uematsu, English lyrics by Kako Someya. The English lyrics are below the break. I also included the original MV of "Eyes on Me" for FF VIII here. 

Enjoy!


Update 15 Aug'16: The Dailymotion version has been deleted by Dailymotion; I guess because of the song (Final Fantasy copyright?), not because of TVB. Dang... This is not a problem for those with access to Vimeo, but readers in Indonesia will have a problem with that, because Vimeo is banned in Indonesia (palm/face). Perhaps I need to make a Tudou account to upload this video? YouTube is out of question cos this is a video, not a collection of stills. Dang...

"Ripples" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV

"Ripples" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV from Icha74 on Vimeo.

I was expecting myself to continue working on my first LOCH 1983 MV last night (on Yeung Hong vs Wong Yung!), but then my Spotify suddenly aired a song that I didn't even realise I had in my iPad. Upon having its romantic melodies filling my lounge, I was so hooked that I immediately searched for its meaning. Upon understanding what the song is about, I delayed my LOCH 1983 project and chose to work on the new song instead. Since the song fits Chor Lau Heung's love story with Song Siu Ching, here's the 18th CLH MV. The ballad is so beautiful, I can imagine Chor Lau Heung singing it to Song Siu Ching if he was a singer. In fact, this song feels like a love song from Chor tai-gor to Siu Ching...

The song is "Ripples" (Lin Yi, 漣漪) by the late Danny Chan. I felt a loss that I didn't even know his talent, and yet he passed away long ago in 1993. But this song truly makes me happy (I smiled almost all the time while making it), so this MV is dedicated to you, Danny Chan. The MV is of course also dedicated to our lovely Barbara and Michael, of course. May the song brings you happiness as it did, and still does, to me. Traditional characters, Yale romanisation, English and Indonesian translations after the break. I also include the still version for YouTube this time.

"Close To You" - an MV for Michael Miu's 58th birthday

Our darling Michael is 58 years old today (18 June 2016). Can't believe he's already 58 years old but still so young in my heart... 

To celebrate his birthday, I've made an MV above. The song is "Close to You" from the Carpenters (fell in love with the song when I watched Vicky Zhao's "So Close" years ago). The opening photo is from the Legend of Condor Heroes 2017 where Michael plays as Huang Yaoshi (Wong Yeuk See) the East Heretic. I'm so happy that Michael is playing as Huang Rong/Wong Yung's father... for we know how amazing Barbara was when she played WY back in 1982/3. I think she's very happy to know that her dear friend Michael is playing as the father of her famous character, weird as it sounds...

I'm also uploading the MV to Vimeo and Dailymotion. Hope DM isn't asking me to delete it, cos DM has been rather difficult these days. I also plan to write a piece on Huang Yaoshi for Michael's birthday, but not sure if I can post it before the weekend is over.

Meanwhile, enjoy the MV, and once again, happy birthday, Michael! We love you!

"Love Is Not Easy" - a Michael Miu/Barbara Yung wuxia MV

"Love Is Not Easy" - a Michael Miu/Barbara Yung wuxia MV from Icha74 on Vimeo.


Featuring Jinny Ng's song with the same title from Line Walkers 2014, this MV combines love stories of Li Sai Man & Chun Sik Sik (The Foundation 1984), Chor Lau Heung & Song Siu Ching (The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung 1984), and Szeto Man Mo & Lam Chor Yin (Fearless Duo 1984). This song is for my dear friend Sandy Le at the MB Network.

The artist of the first artwork is anon (I use it for my banner). Cynthia (MB Network) made the gorgeous artworks/wallpapers for The Foundation 1984 and Chor Lau Heung 1984. The Fearless Duo artwork was taken from Tomoyo262's Fearless Duo YouTube MV.  I modified the English translation from here; the Yale romanisation was from here; they are below the break.

"The Legacy" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 & Nirvana in Fire 2015 cross-over

I wanted to publish an MV today, but I think I need a few more days to finish it. Hence, this fanfiction; a crossover between Chor Lau Heung 1984 and Nirvana in Fire 2015.

Before the fall of Liang, the old retired Emperor Jing was determined to save the descendant of his best friend. Eight centuries later, another hero arrived at the deserted Langya Hall to revisit the past. Inspired by the similar savviness between Mei Changsu and Chor Lau Heung. Romanisation a mix of Mandarin Pinyin and Yale Cantonese.

The bridge to the famous Langya Hall, Nirvana in Fire 2015

-xxx-

“Visitor.”

Leaning over the alcove, the Old Langya Master Lin Chen didn’t bother to look up from his scroll. Although the person who spoke to him was more than 60 years old, that person still acted like a teenager he was 40 years ago.

“Who?” the Old Master asked in the same ignorant manner.

“Su ge-ge.”

That made the Old Master look up from his scroll. He stared at Fei Liu who excitedly nodded and pointed at the door. Fei Liu had communication problems, he knew that, but the old rascal was not stupid. He knew Lin Shu died four decades ago and he wouldn’t joke about it. Still...

The historical accuracy of the 1980s ancient costumes

The pre-Tang Dynasty women fashion from Hujiang.com

After watching Langya Bang, I realised that some Mainland productions are improving, namely in the beautiful cinematography and historical accuracy in costume design. Of course I can complain all day long about the dubbing and the excessive use of CGI and cables during fighting scenes, but let’s stay positive this time. Particularly in the costume design part, I recall that the last few Mainland wuxia series that I watched had been quite accurate, though some has been a hit and miss as well. Granted, I don’t watch a lot of Mainland wuxia series, but I certainly can comment on those that I watched. To me, Bu Bu Jing Xin and Li Hou Zhu definitely joined LangyaBang/Nirvana in Fire in their costume design accuracy (although there might be some discrepancies that my non-expert eyes missed). In the previous decade, it seems the Treasure Venture 2001 (Nicky Wu and Vicky Zhao) was also accurate in their design. I can’t say that about Xiao Shi Yi Lang 2002 (Nicky Wu, Athena Chu) though, for Nicky’s hair and his earlier costumes were definitely not done in a traditional sense.

Having said that, how accurate was the 1980s Hong Kong productions in costume design? Since I have only recently watched the Michael/Barbara series, I can only comment on that, but that’s a good place to start. I’ll divide it into the early Tang Dynasty (the Foundation 1984), the Song Dynasty (LOCH 1983), the Ming Dynasty (CLH 1984) and the Qing Dynasty (FD 1984). I will compare it with the costumes of Nicky Wu and Liu Tao, my other favourite actors (I love Liu Shi Shi too, but I don't watch many of her ancient dramas). I’m still confused with the fashion terminology of Hanfu (Han clothing), so I will just simply refer to the parts as “trousers”, “jacket”, “skirt” etc. Do forgive me for that. Check this video for the fashion up to the Tang Dynasty and this video for the Song, Ming and Qing fashion styles.