[E] LAND OF WEALTH / 匯通天下 [TVB][2006]

Written by Funn Lim

I got the ending of episode 2 wrong. It actually ended with Bak Chuen walking aimlessly after the encounter with Sung Man and he walked past a factory making silver bars (money) and he was spotted by the foreman and was given a job. That was the end of episode 2.

In episode 3 it started with Bak Chuen as Fan Chi Chai but I will still continue to refer to him as Bak Chuen. Anyway he is working hard but he had nowhere to go to, no dream and no aim. One day he saw some minting pot cracked and those hot lava of silver was flowing out and it could catch fire. He told the foreman who simply ignored him and Bak Chuen had not choice but to go back to work.

Truth is episode 3 establishes the foundation of the Kiu and Cho family.

We are told of Kiu Boon Yip's family. He is married and very much in love with his wife, Mang Yuet Or whom I shall refer to as Mrs Kiu from now on. They have 2 daughters, no son. Eldest daughter is Kiu Ching who is married to the guy who is always by Mr Kiu's side, Fong Yun Tin. Kiu Ching does not have any children and her husband is ambitious but is as Kiu Ching pointedly told her father, "Father you're ably assisted by Yun Tin (and in a whisper she said almost subconciously) and yet he is still the 2nd taukeh".

You see in Kiu's family they run a very successfuly bank whose name I forgot and I will write it in when I remember it. Ding Fung something. Anyway Kiu Boon Yip is the 1st taukeh, who runs the banks. He is assisted by many 2nd taukehs, one of whom is Yun Tin who has been eyeing the position of 1st taukeh.

Anyway Mr Kiu has a second daughter, Kiu Jun. By the way finally Tavia Yeung appears and very pretty. Anyway Kiu Jun is not married and I have a feeling Mr Kiu favours Jun more than Ching.

Mr Kiu's wife has an older sister, Mang Yuet Sheung who is married to Cho Yu Tai. I shall refer to her as Mrs Cho. Interestingly in episode 2 I made a big mistake. Cho Yu Tai works for Mr Kiu as the 2nd taukeh of one of the banks and he too is eyeing the 1st taukeh position. They have one son, Cho King Yin, a studious good guy who is on very good terms with Jun, more like brother and sister although they're cousins. In fact Mrs Cho encourages the friendship, hoping it would blossom into a marriage which will convenient them because "Kiu Boon Yip has no sons. Ah Ching after so many years is still barren. Clearly if King Yin married Jun, he can have a chance to be the 2nd taukeh". Of course Mr Cho asks Mrs Cho "But then our son will need to enter into the family of Kiu and adopt Kiu's surname" and Mrs Cho slyly replies "Well that would be even better isn't it? Who else would Kiu Boon Yip leave the business to then right?". Clearly greedy parents.

A bit background on the Kius. I was a bit confused with this part so I hope someone can clarify it. Mr Kiu mentioned something about how the bank business got its start. It was something like Mr Kiu or Mr Kiu's father or someone from Kiu came across someone in the woods and found some money which helped that Kiu person buy tea leaves and in turn made a profit and opened a bank and became as successful as they are today. Mr Kiu promised to his ancestor that he will return the favour to this mysterious person one day.

Did I get it right? Could it have any connection with Bak Chuen and his family? We shall see...

Anyway Mr Cho is all about scheming. The Kiu family had this tradition of staging mock plays and usually the most important person will get to play the title character. Mr Cho suggested to Mr Kiu that out of fairness each 2nd taukehs (managers from various branches of the bank) shall be given a bowl of "tong yuen" (really don't know what they're called in Chinese) and only one bowl contains "tong yuen" with red bean paste in it. Only Mr Kiu didn't have to do this, since he is the boss. So even Yun Tin got a bowl. He took a bite and saw red bean paste. Everyone else they didn't have the red bean paste and so he quickly said "Well uncle, congratulations! You must have the one with the red bean paste then!" and Mr Cho smiled and took a bite and indeed he too had the red bean paste.

Back in his own room Yun Tin told his wife what happened and Ching was angry and said "How dare uncle did this? Who does he think he is? Why did you play along?" and Yun Tin slyly said "What more can I do? Everybody quickly gobbled down the "tong yuen" and I immediately knew something was up. Uncle was trying to test our loyalty, to see who dares to defy him. I hardly have any authority or power, so for now let's just let him win".

By the way I forgot to mention Mrs Cho's nature. Mrs Chis grandly dressed and one day she came to visit her sister with Jun looking on. Mrs Cho said she bought a nice fur coat but when she tried it on it was a size too small. Immediately she let Mrs Kiu try it on and it fit perfectly. Mrs Cho immediately asked Mrs Kiu to buy the fur coat from her hands and it was expensive. Mrs Kiu agreed because she is soft spoken and didn't quite realised her sister is taking advantage of her. Ching saw what happened and took the furcoat, examined it and said "But aunty, I heard of this shop that sells fake fur coat. The quality doesn't seem to be good quality, you may have been cheated" and Mrs Cho slightly embarassed immediately said "I didn't buy from that shop" and Ching said "Well I can get it checked in another trusted shop". Of course Mrs Cho knew Ching knew she knew the fur coat didn't cost that much. Jun I think knew what was happening but kept quiet whilst Mrs Kiu was truly blur.

Back to Ko Wa and her brother, Fu Yi Chek. They have no money so they did some horse acrobatics to get some fees. They performed well and Sung Man walked by and clapped enthusiastically. When Fu Yi Chek and Ko Wa asked for money, everybody walked away except for Sung Man who good naturedly told Fu Yi Chek that "I really want to give you some money but all I have with me are cheques which I intend to change at the bank" and Fu Yi Chek turned rude and said "Yeah right" and Ko Wa stopped him from going further.

Next scene they were sharing a small bowl of noodle. Poor things. Suddenly Sung Man appeared and smilingly said "Oh there you are! I just came back from the bank hoping to see you where we first met and couldn't see you so I walked and found your horse. So there you are! Here! The tip I promised!". Ko Wa was in total disbelief and asked "You looked for us just to give us the tip?" and Sung Man good naturedly said "Of course! A promise is a promise!" and Fu Yi Chek cynically said "Well just now we performed and you people never paid at all!" and Sung Man smilingly said "Ermm well I paid didn't I?" and Fu Yi Chek was slighly embarassed and apologised. When Sung Man saw they were sharing a bowl of noodle he treated them to big bowls and Fu Yi Chek ate and ate and ate, much to the amusement of Sung Man. When Sung Man asked "You're both foreigners?" and Ko Wa explained to him what happened to them. Sung Man, being a keen believer in justice and is very idealistic asked "Why didn't you go to the magistrate about the theft?" and Fu Yi Chek said "It's no use. The bandits would have been gone by now" and Sung Man confidently urged them to try.

So Sung Man set an appointment with his father's acquaintance, a smal time magistrate who is taking money on the sides. Sung Man tactfully said "I love your town sir. It is beautiful and well kept but there is however one issue.." and the magistrate asked "What would that be?" and Sung Man slowly said "Security" and he explained the theft from Ko Wa and Fu Yi Chek by some bandits.

Guess what? The magistrate immediately sent his men and out, crushed the bandits and got back the horses for Ko Wa!

Ko Wa thanked Sung Man personally who idealistically said "You should thank the magistrate of this town. He was the one who upheld justice".

Pause here. Sung Man is extremely idealistic so I wonder will something awful happen to him to make him realise that the world is truly really corrupt like how Bak Chuen sees it? Didn't he realise the magistrate acted so fast because of Sung Man's father? Again due to position and power? I mean the magistrate could actually crush the thieves so easily and he didn't all these time. Sung Man is in for a heavy blow to his idealism and sense of justice.

Anyway Ko Wa told Sung Man of life as a nomad and as a Mongolian which Sung Man expressed interest in following them back to Mongolia. Ko Wa planned to sell the horses, buy some tea leaves and sell them for a profit on the way back. But she let her mind wander and she remembered the love of her life, a fellow Mongolian Bo Yan Ba To who we know saved her from some attack that wasn't shown and they fell deeply in love. I wonder what happened since nothing was said after that. Anyway from they talks we know Ko Wa's aunt and uncle mistreated them.

Anyway Sung Man was advised by the magistrate to go home by the orders of his father but Sung Man cleverly averted the conversation to a nice grandfather's clock in the hallway and asked the magistrate whert it came from since it looked like one stolen from the Forbidden Palace. The Magistrate panicked and at Sung Man's request, agreed to lie to his father than Sung Man was his understudy and preparing for exams. Sung Man was happy his devious ways worked.

Back to Bak Chuen. He is working hard at the factory but one day the pot exploded and one of his friends got seriously injured. The foreman was uncaring and refused to give medical attention to that man and Bak Chuen was so angry he confronted the foreman and said "You are responsible for this! I warned you! If you don't give him immediate medical attention we will... we will... we will strike! We will not work!" and everyone screamed "Yes! Yes!" and the foreman arrogantly said "Well if you don't work, I will fire you! I will fire all of you! And none of you will be paid!" and they all screamed "How can you say this!" and Bak Chuen was so angry he grabbed the foreman by the collar and said "You're heartless! You think just because you're the foreman and you're in authority therefore you can mistreat us! You are all the same!" and was about to hit him when Mr Kiu passed by as he was surveying the factory (which I think does not belong to him, more like a factory to make silver and gold bars) and quietly and with authority said to Bak Chuen "Young man, violence does not solve problems. Let the foreman go. Now Mr Foreman, I find you lack of compassion for your injured workers reprehensible. You are responsible for their safety and not only did you not admit your responsibility, you ignored your injured worker. If you don't attend to him now like you should, I will ensure that the police knows of this and I will assist them in investigating you. All of us here can be witnesses..." and the foreman said "Yes sir, I will immediately see to it sir" and he quickly carried the injured man away. Mr Kiu who earlier saw Bak Chuen thought he Bak Chuen was very familiar. Anyway now they met again and Mr Kiu looked Bak Chuen up and down and said "I admire your guts young man in standing up to the foreman. Well done!" and Mr Kiu left stylishly as he left Bak Chuen a bit in awe of his authority.

Next in episode 4 we see Bak Chuen fired from his job by the foreman and Mr Kiu offered him a job only to be framed by fellow colleagues for a crime he did not commit.

Oh when will he ever learn? Will Bak Chuen ever find stability or will he be like Jang Geum who in Jewel In The Palace even after 60 episodes still feel shocked someone wanted to frame her for a wrong she did not commit?

Anyway two things struck me in this episode.

One would be Tavia Yeung. Pretty yes, very little role yes but the way she spoke, the way she talked, the way she pointed, her mannerisms reminded me of Maggie Cheung Hor Yee. Not necessarily a bad thing but just very familar. Maybe they're alike.

Secondly would be Sonija Kwok. Not only am I not pissed off with her performance, she wasn't the worse. In fact I find her Mongolian costume suits her well and like I said in Episode 2 this role suits her looks since she is a bit exotic looking. She is very pretty in here and so far I find her performance still as light hearted and chirpy and happy as she was in Episode 2. So to me that is a credible acting. But I made a mistake in Episode 2. I said her horse riding scenes were amazingly done and I thought she did well and then someone wrote she knew horse riding beforehand. And then I realise yeah lor, horse riding is a skill, not really that much of a talent. Acting is and I am happy to say any criticism I have on this episode is not because of her.

Lui San is gorgeous in here. I just like her make up and her do. She plays a loving wife to Joh Chiang's Mr Kiu and they seemed so much in love that their daughters looked on with envy. She does seem like a weak and gentle wife.

Rebecca Chan whom I thought should have been Cixi made a credible and too beautiful Mrs Cho. She reminds me a lot of her character in War & Beauty, same do. But awesome costume. Same as War & Beauty or new ones?

Everybody was ok in their performance because this is one episode that everyone did nothing much drama or action wise.

I really like Steven Ma in here with his infectious energy and idealism. He is well cast in this role and I enjoy watching him but thus far he is just smiling in here although there are some gems in the way he stares at people in an amusing disbelief way. He had the single and only comic moment in this episode, the one where Fu Yi Chek commented about those who refused to donate money after the acrobatic performance. That was funny.

By the way I hope he wins the ASTRO Best actor award for Safe Guards and Wayne Lai wins for Best supporting actor but we all know they won't win. A pity because they gave career defining performances in that series. Probably Kevin Cheng will win.

The worst performance belongs to the one actor whose voice was dubbed, whom I assume is Stephen Huynh playing Sonija's boyfriend in her flashback. Overacting, underacting, no acting, whatever you wish to term it, but those 5 minutes sequence was confusing (as I thought Sonija was still in the restaurant with Steven having a flashback with her in front of her camp sitting there having a flashback about her boyfriend) and his performance more annoying and inadequate than complimentary. He's new I suppose but I am glad that for once Sonija is not the hate factor in terms of acting performance.

Everybody else ranges from boring (Kenny Wong) to effective (Claire Yiu) to so far prop like (John Chiang) to sometimes good sometimes not good enough (Moses Chan) to interestingly not that bad (Sonija Kwok) to good but not enough (Tavia Yeung) to surprisingly pretty but thus far nothing much to do (Lui San and Rebecca Chan) to simply ke-le-fes (everyone else).

Anyway I didn't comment on the beautiful scenic views in episode 1 and 2 and possibly the worst themesong ever. And it is sung by the very competent singer Eason Chan and so it only means that with a good singer like Eason Chan and it still sounds awful, imagine if Moses Chan sang it? I thank my lucky star he didn't.

Phew!

Anyway really look forward to Episode 4 even if I dread the series turning overly serious in terms of love relationship as it goes on and on and on.

P/S : I had to do some research before adding this bit so if you missed this bit first time around, I just added it on 01.01.2008.

There was one scene which had me intrigued; it was the scene where Kiu Jun's cousin showed her some photographs of the Eiffel Towel, pyramid and the Statue Of Liberty. I was wondering did cameras exist then? That was my research.

Now the timeline in this series at the time of Kiu Jun must be before 1875 since the beginning of the series started with Guangxu as Emperor and that was when Guangxu became emperor. Since I wasn't sure where the timeline of Guangxu's rule, then it must be before the end of his rule and that was 1908. So all these monuments must be before 1908, minus a few years since nowhere this series said it happened during the last year of Guangxu's rule.

So did TVB got their facts right? I'd imagine the camera to take these pictures was those big types, studio types with a big sound of POOF! with powder everywhere.

The Effel Tower was completed in 1889. The Statue Of Liberty in 28th October 1886. The pyramid? No need to check, way way way way before. So if the series is somewhere between 1875-1908, yes it is of course correct factual to see these famous monuments in the pictures if the series is at around 1890 and beyond.

But what about films and cameras? Did they exist then?

Well well well, TVB did their homework.

The big camera was created around 1855-1871 and the negative films?  1855.

So yes it is possible for Kiu Jun to see those monuments in those pictures.

What about the size of the pictures then? Yeah at this point I was in total disbelief TVB didn't screw up the facts. Well the size held by Kiu Jun were normal size we see nowadays, what's the size? Anyway from my memory it should be smaller, and thicker and the colour more yellow. So maybe that part not that accurate.

But do you know at which point was the series when Kiu Jun held those pictures? Am I correct to assume it is somewhere after 1890? I remember this series' TMO where it was said that there will be a scene of France invading China. I checked some facts online and found two entries, in 1860 and 1884.  1860 would be impossible since Guangxu was after.

So it must be 1884 unless I got the invaders wrong. So when Kiu Jun held those pictures it was BEFORE 1884, and not as I earlier assume it to be before 1908. And it can't be just one year before, since the drama takes some time to happen and if the invasion happened in the middle of this series, it must be a significant years before 1884, so I assume 1880 or so.

Which means TVB got it WRONG! HA! HA! HA!

Because Statue of Liberty was erected in 1886, which was way after 1884 the invasion date. WRONG!

The Eiffel Tower was in 1889 so wrong also since it was after 1884. Assuming it was a picture of Eiffel Tower under construction is also impossible since the facts states that it was erected between 1887-1889.

Well I make all these findings on the assumption all my sources were correct.

Pyramid of course correct lar! Those facts about pictures, cameras, etc are correct.

Do I feel relieved I was right to assume TVB wrong? Of course! A bit glad but to give them credit, they just got 2 out of 3 wrong. No one can get the pyramids wrong of course.

Aiyah can't expect TVB to be so accurate since even the dialogue has some modern elements in it.

And then I asked myself what about the glasses? I remembered vaguely the cousin was wearing Harry Potter ish glasses. I'll leave that for another day.