My Rollercoaster Ride In The World Of Chinese Entertainment

I could remember the time when technology was still limited, there wasn't Netflix and I didn't have much technology with me yet -- I could remember I got stuck into the world of Chinese entertainment one way or another. As I love to say it -- it all started with Meteor Garden but it didn't end with Meteor Garden. Right now, I just find the current Meteor Garden to be meh at best with its really bland acting. But back then, I was simply crazy about Chinese entertainment even after I developed a taste fatigue for Chinese food.

I could remember thinking F4 was once a Japanese boyband until I remembered the song "Can't Lose You" by F4. It's the first time I heard of a Chinese song! I remembered how I got hooked into that song, got the lyrics but it wasn't the end. I really couldn't think of it. Then I started listening to the late Teresa Teng's songs because Jerry Yan sang "The Moon Represents My Heart" though my favorite version was the one sang by Leslie Cheung due to the nice instrumentals it had. Then I started to get into other Mandarin music -- even if I have a very poor vocabulary then I started Googling it for their translations so I could understand what's being spoken. Hence began the trend that I won't watch anything that's not in English if it doesn't have English subs!


F4 started the whole trend when I would start checking out everyone that was associated with them. Magic Kitchen made me want to check out old and new Andy Lau films. The F4 Pepsi Dare for More commercial made me check out Aaron Kwok's movie "The Storm Riders". Jay Chou's presence made me want to watch "Can't Say the Secret" and before that there was "Initial D". Those were but some films I remembered watching. But it wasn't just F4 and people who worked with them that magnetized me to watch more Chinese entertainment. Hmmm I could even remember watching Chinese Ghost Story (where Barbie Xu were the main actress) too!


There was also 5566 who were pretty much the Anime-ish. I wasn't all too interested with 5566's debut show called "My MVP Valentine" which rivaled Meteor Garden in popularity in the Philippines. Although the 5566 weren't attractive but I can't deny that they were really talented actors. I could remember watching Westside Story though I had a very poor reason (or "good reason") for watching it because I had a crush on Esther Liu's character Ya Yan (dubbed as Jamie in Tagalog). I watched a bit more 5566 series. Then I watched "Green Forest, My Home" because I was attracted to Esther that much during that time even if she's a girl I'll never have.


But as said -- I would have dumb reasons alongside smart reasons to watch Chinese series during that time -- that was way before I started last decade's Super Sentai series for also rather dumb reasons. I remembered watching Chinese series because of an attractive protagonist especially the two Lius -- it's not just Esther Liu but also Crystal Liu. I remembered how I thought Return of Condor Heroes (based on its trailer) was something my late paternal grandmother would watch. But no, Crystal wasn't Brigitte Lin -- an actress whose name I only ran across from reading Forbes. But I can't deny how I once thought Brigitte was Crystal's mother due to the striking similarities! Other of my previous admiration included Tammy Chen (her lookalike Haruka Tateishi made me watch Zyuohger for dumb reasons) and the other


Though it did make me curious (for once) to check out any project Chin Han and/or Leanne Liu had only because they played parental roles in later shows. Leanne would always appear as a mother or main antagonist depending on the script that was asked for her. I can't say I'm too familiar with Chin Han except for his role as the most exalted Jade Emperor in Cowherd and Weaver Girl -- I wished Leanne were Wang Mu Niang Niang or Empress of Heaven in said script! I checked out the 1986 version of Romance in the Rain but only to make comparisons -- it was also the very reason why I wanted Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu-Wang were both Shu Huan and Yi Ping! But it just felt like watching my parents' old videos because most of the cast members are old enough to be my parents.

Then time came when I started to get taste fatigue -- the irony was that I was eating mostly non-Chinese food (and that time, I was crazy over Persian, Japanese and Korean food) while getting obsessed with Chines entertainment. During the time I started getting a taste fatigue for it and wanting to watch Super Sentai again -- I was craving for Chinese food at the same time! I started to withdraw from Chinese entetainment to watch Super Sentai, Kamen Rider and the like. But like my breaks with Super Sentai -- they were mostly meant to be short breaks and two years seems to be the longest. Then I would start missing Chinese entertainment all over again.

Right now, I might consider watching "Eternal Love" or "Ashes of Love" but I have to find out which has a better recommendation. It's just because right now -- I'm somewhat Korean crazy right now...