It All Started With Meteor Garden

It was just last 2003 or something around last decade when I started watching Chinese movies. I admit, I wasn't so much into it. I remembered my paternal grandmother would borrow several betamax tapes and she would return it weekly -- some of them were Wuxia series and some of them were Chiung Yao series. Then it happened -- I saw Meteor Garden. At first, I thought the F4 were Japanese until I saw the Fantasy 4Ever music video called "Can't Lose You" and it was in freaking Mandarin! Yes, it was in freaking Mandarin!

I remembered watching a few episodes of Meteor Garden and I didn't expect to get hooked. I wasn't exactly a fan of Chinese series and I wanted to watch more Japanese. But this was something new and something I originally didn't want to watch -- then it had me hooked. How I regret not taking Mandarin lessons seriously all because I was sort of trying to pursue the American superiority mentality or because Filipino TV dramas (or teleseryes) just suck. After watching the first season (and later the second season) -- I really enjoyed it though I prefer the first season better.

But it didn't stop with Meteor Garden and F4. I personally wanted to check out My MVP Valentine, Westside Story, Dolphin Bay, Chinese Ghost Story, Lavender, Marmalade Boy, Poor Prince (though that was REALLY stupid and I just watch it like I'd watch Go-Onger), the Return of Condor Heroes and more of them because of Meteor Garden. Without Meteor Garden, I doubt it I would have even started into the voyage with Chinese entertainment which I have abandoned in a long time.

I may no longer be obsessed with Meteor Garden like I used to but I still can't thank it for getting me interested in Chinese entertainment, willingness to watch more Chinese films though the craze isn't back in me right now. Right now, I just feel like rekindling it but I'm super outdated with Chinese entertainment and more updated with Japanese and South Korean.