“You’re the best in this world” MV (Michael Miu as HYS 2017) & LOCH 1983 OST 3 translation

I just made this MV since we have now enough photos to make just one MV of Michael as Huang Yaoshi 2017. Since Michael played as the very memorable villain Yang Kang (Yeung Hong) in the 1983 ver of LOCH, I think it's apt to have the LOCH 1983 OST used for this piece. The OST is titled "You're the best in this world" 世間始終你好 sung by Roman Tam and Jenny Tseng. I have the YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion versions for Michael as Huang Yaoshi here. 

Since I'm also doing the translation of the LOCH 1983 OST, this post is also for that. Hence, the translation of "You’re the best in the world" (世間始終你好) is after the break. The MV of LOCH 1983 OST part 3 with Barbara Yung as Wong Yung and Felix Wong as Kwok Ching is after the translation. Romanisation is Cantonese Yale (converted from Jyutping using this site), translated into English and Indonesian.

I love this song so much, I think it's just slightly below the iconic part 1 (Iron Blood, Loyal Heart) theme song, so I enjoyed making the MV. I hope you like it too. Translation of 2nd LOCH 1983 OST will be done next week or so...

Legend of Dik Ching 1986 eps 11-20

Click this link to see the raw Cantonese episodes of Dik Ching

Seung Seung and Dik Ching shared their hearts, Ep 11

Ep 11: SS went to see the imprisoned DC and made up for their fights earlier. DC produced the jade arhat that SS once gave her, thus she knew that he truly loved her. Although her brother still dragged her away, she appeared again just before DC and his friend were guillotined. She threatened her brother that she'd commit suicide if DC was still killed, but the silly girl took a misstep and actually truly stabbed herself. She was still okay, but the Prince delayed the death punishment for DC. The next bit, I don't really get, but I think the Prince then offered DC freedom and gave his permission to marry SS if DC would reside with the Mongols. Or something like that, cos later the word "Fuma" (prince consort) was spoken by Chung tai-gor’s sister. DC refused, so he was imprisoned again. Then A Fuk and the girl came to the camp, and somehow managed to talk to DC. This is when DC asked the girl to talk to SS, I think telling SS that his refusal to be a Fuma (prince consort) doesn't mean he didn't love SS. That night, DC's colleagues tried to rescue him, but the idiots failed... 

More photos of Michael Miu as Huang Yaoshi

Michael Miu has uploaded more photos of him as the East Heretic in his weibo. Rather than putting them in the older post, I'd put them here instead. I will also make an MV of him as Huang Yaoshi, if not this weekend, then next weekend (a very tiring week this week...), so watch this blog please...

The above is my favourite due to the saying. The right bottom corner says, "Travel somewhere new each year, and you just might find yourself along the way". On the left upper corner is Huang Yaoshi's name written in the traditional Chinese characters 黃藥師 (love it! I much prefer traditional than simplified characters due to the former's deeper meanings). Michael also wrote "If not now, when?". I think these simple sayings are very profound, it shows how much he was willing to explore by taking the role of the iconic Huang Yaoshi.

(or perhaps because he is already 58 years old now, he was concerned that he would not get the chance again in the future. Or both.)

Legend of Dik Ching 1986 eps 1-10

Update: Have updated some aspects in the synopsis based on Wina's explanations and her great childhood memories!

Kitty Lai (Princess Seung Seung) and Michael Miu (Dik Ching) in DC 1986

The Legend of Dik Ching (狄青)was the Northern Song rom-com featuring Michael Miu and Kitty Lai as the leads. This was one of the first series Michael played after Barbara's passing in 1985 (the other one was Yang's Saga), which makes it paradoxically sadder to me due to its rom-com nature. However, Wina recommended the series to me. Since it's a Michael Miu series, I thought why not watching it. Plus, I love Kitty Lai as well since I saw her as Zhao Min in HSDS 86 three decades ago. The problem is that there is no English sub for DC, hence I had to just watch the raw version. I still opt to watch the Cantonese version though, at least I still can hear Michael's real voice. Now, the trick is, Youku does not have the complete DC episodes. Luckily, my persistent to view the Canto ver paid off, for I found this Yueyuyy website. Yueyuyy actually airs the Tudou and Youku links, but only Tudou links work. It doesn't have the sub, but that's the only complete collection I can find in Cantonese, so you better watch it soon if you are interested. Click here for the summary in the TVB channel (spellings are Mandarin Pinyin, mostly).

DC was the Northern Song version of Szeto Man Mo. DC's family held exclusive rights to trade salt and rice in the Song kingdom, and they had been doing a fair trade with the consumers. DC liked to prank and a bit good-for-nothing in the beginning, but actually had a golden heart. He had a childhood friend named Yeung Chiyan (Shalin Tse, the yellow-dressed maiden in HSDS 86) who loved him so much. DC worked for the Magistrate or something like that, I suppose after his mother rebuked him for being a lazy bone. Mum was Felix Wong's Kwok Ching's mum (Li Ping) in LOCH 83. DC had a loyal servant named A Fuk (who often became DC's sandbag in the earlier episodes or became DC's unsolicited adviser, though the results were not always guaranteed). DC's nemesis was Pon Sau, another royalty portrayed by the cute Michael Tao (Right Emissary Fan Yao in HSDS 86). 

Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 1986 Eps 23-40 (End)

Wina supplied all photos for this post for me, hence, thank you, Wina!

Zhao Min (Kitty Lai) was the highlight for this series for me

Sorry for the minimum post this week, have been having three deadlines until next weekend. This post picks up from the HSDS part 1 (eps 1-22) where Zhang Wuji (WJ, Tony Leung) finally met Zhao Min (ZM, Kitty Lai). At first, WJ didn't realise ZM was a Mongolian royalty. He was just attracted to her the way she was to him. WJ had collected three "girlfriends" at this stage: Zhou Zhiruo (the Emei student), the Spider-Girl Yin Li (his cousin from mother's side, actually) and Xiao Zhao (a servant girl who would be the Persian Ming Cult leader later). Dressed as a handsome young man (Kitty was as handsome as Barbara Yung when dressed as a guy), ZM was intrigued at WJ. It didn't take long for her to reveal to WJ that she was a girl, and soon after, she bestowed him a hairpin inside a golden box. 

Innocent/ignorant WJ gave the hairpin to Xiao Zhao, which flared ZM when she realised that he'd wasted her intentions. She still managed to make him promise three things in return of a healing paste for Third and Sixth Uncles (the healing paste inside the good box, the ingredients inside the hairpin). WJ promised that he'd do the three things, as long as they were righteous deeds and within his means. The first was that he'd take her to the Fire and Ice Island to see the Dragon Sabre. ZM kept the second and the third promise till later.

The Rivers and Lakes stats

Update 11 July 2016: I now include the truncated calculation to examine the page view per day (down to the bottom page); the result is slightly different from the total page view analyses. Update 16 July 2016: I add the visitors' countries based only on Rivers and Lakes stats.

This post is the 100^th post of jianghu-related articles of mine, thus, I’d like to look at some statistics of the jianghu/wuxia articles that I’ve written so far. You can skip this post if you want (duh!), but it actually provides a lot of interesting information for me...

There are important notes to be made though. First, I count the 100^th post from all wuxia/jianghu posts combined from my personal blog and this Realm of Rivers and Lakes blog. If I count just the jianghu articles from this blog, this post would be the 66^th, but since I started this genre talking in my personal blog, I think it’s fair that I include the personal blog counts in this statistics. Second, I exclude my first ever wuxia post about Nicky Wu’s and Liu Tao’s Li Hou Zhu series, since it has gained a lot of momentum since it was written in 2009 (it’s now at 5,415 page-views). Plus, the current blog is focusing more on Michael Miu and Barbara Yung wuxia series, thus I think excluding Nicky Wu’s series is okay.

"L-O-V-E" - Michael Miu & Barbara Yung wuxia MV

I love Olivia Ong's rendition of Nat King Cole's L-O-V-E, hence I thought this song would fit a still Michael/Barbara wuxia MV that I want to make. It apparently does. The cheerful tone prompts me to mostly select images of Michael and Barbara smiling or laughing in their three wuxia series, i.e. the Foundation 1984, Fearless Duo 1984, and Chor Lau Heung 1984. God knows when I'll be able to watch the sub version of United We Stand, so until we find it, I'll just have to recycle the materials from the three series. I hope you like the MV. I upload it into YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion.

Have a nice week ahead!

The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 1986 eps 1-22

I’ve been re-watching the New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre (HSDS) 1986 these days, and I quite enjoy the re-watch. I actually re-watched it because my new friend Wina reminded me of this series (we’re both suckers for 80s series), hence this post. Thus, this post is for you, my dear Wina, as an early Happy Eid for you.

Starring Tony Leung (Zhang Wuji/Cheung Mo Kei/Tio Bu Ki), Kitty Lai (Zhao Min/Chiu Man/Jia Min), and Sheren Tang (Zhou Zhiruo/Chow Chi-yeuk) as the main leads and Simon Yam (Zhang Cuisan) and Dodo Cheng (Yin So-so), among others, as the supporting actors, I feel like transported back to my childhood when I watched this series in my lounge, desperately not being caught by my mum for watching too many wuxia. HSDS didn’t have the lovey-dovey effect on me the way Chor Lau Heung 1984 did (still does), but I do remember many HSDS scenes quite well.

Huang Yaoshi, the East Heretic

Michael Miu Kiu Wai as the 2017 Huang Yaoshi

Since we have more photos of our Michael Miu as Huang Yaoshi (HYS) these days, I thought a post on Huang Yaoshi’s character is in order. I base this post on the English translation of the LOCH book, which can be found at the Wuxia Society. I also need to reiterate that I LOVE Kenneth Tsang’s portrayal as HYS in the 1983 LOCH, but since I have faith in Michael’s acting skills, I believe I will see another favourite HYS of mine next year. Photos of the rest of the Five Greats and the Old Imp are at the end of the article.

First, Huang Yaoshi is the Mandarin pinyin spelling for the real name of this character (surname Huang, "first name" Yaoshi). The Cantonese Yale romanisation is Wong Yeuk Si, the Hokkien version is Oey Yok Su. The traditional characters are 黃藥師 while the simplified characters are 黄药师.

HYS was first depicted as wearing a green robe. This depiction makes some Indonesian fans always asking why the 2017 HYS hasn’t been wearing a green robe. Well, fair point... but a man can change his wardrobe style. Plus, Jin Yong seems to like green. He dressed Yang Kang and one of the Freaks in green the first time we were introduced to them, and he also had Mu Nianci in a dark green clothing in the last chapter. Anyway, here’s the first appearance of Huang Yaoshi in Book 2 Chapter 13. 

“Bitter Enemies” - Wong Yung vs Yeung Hong LOCH 1983

"Bitter Enemies" - Wong Yung vs Yeung Hong LOCH 1983 from Icha74 on Vimeo.

A few months ago, I watched the Legend of Condor Heroes 1983 with trepidation. I love the pairing of Michael Miu and Barbara Yung, but I always watched their series where they were romantic couples. LOCH 1983 was a different story, because Michael played Yang Kang/Yeung Hong, the mortal enemy of Barbara's Huang Rong/Wong Yung. However, I recently learned that indeed during the making of LOCH 1983 that Barbara and Michael became friends, hence I now see LOCH 1983 as an important series that cemented their friendship for life. With this understanding, I have no qualm to make a movie about the mortal enmity between their LOCH characters. 

Laced with the rock beat of Line Walker's "Walker" (行者) by Justin Lo and Wilfred Lau, this MV features the mortal enmities between Wong Yung and Yeung Hong. As a classic, LOCH 1983 is always in the hearts of the 80s wuxia lovers. However, it was difficult for me to find a dedicated WY vs YH music video, hence this offering. Hope you like it. Traditional characters, Yale (I think) romanisation, and English and Indonesian translations are below the break.

Oh, and this MV is full of classical 1980s fighting skills. New wuxia lovers, watch this. This is how the fighting scenes in wuxia series should have been made! Click this category to check my other action-based MVs. For ballad/romance lovers who prefer to see Michael and Barbara romantic pairing, what about this latest CLH 1984 MV instead?

"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.

Iron Blood and Loyal Heart 鐵血丹心 LOCH 1983 OST part 1

Anticipating the Legend of Condor Heroes 2017 with Michael Miu as Huang Yaoshi, I thought some of us oldies would like to have some nostalgic moments with the OST of LOCH 1983. However, most LOCH 1983 theme songs have not been translated into English yet (CMIIW), hence I recruited my friend Li Qian to translate the first song for us all. The theme songs of parts 2 ("A Meaningful Life") and 3 ("You're the Best in the World") will be translated in due course. All LOCH 1983 OST can be found here as well. 





The translation in English and Indonesian are below the break, along with the Jyutping Romanisation. Input to translation is of course welcome. IMO, the theme of this song is very Guo Jing, or reflective of his life and struggles. The translation has also been uploaded to Kaypang Gallery's FB page. 

Update 9 January 2017: I have uploaded the Yale romanisation (without numbers) for easier pronunciation for non-Cantonese speakers. The Yale romanisation with numbers are after the Indonesian translation.

"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...