Riches and Stitches (鳳舞香羅) produced by HK TVB

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

I still don't have a TV at home but when I caught this show at a friend's house, I was "hooked". Never mind the fact that I miss most of the show, and only caught it if I happen to be at someone else's place with a TV switched on to the channel on weekend, I've watched enough HK dramas in the past to easily make the connection.

At first, I thought it was another copycat of The Bund (上海灘) when Kong Wah (江華/江华), acting as triad deputy leader Wing Ming Tung (荣昊东), foiled an assassination attempt in 1920s Shanghai. Fortunately, the TV was left on and it got more interesting.

Moses Chan (陳豪/陈豪) was cast as Siu Chun Hang (邵晋铿), the protege of a family whose business was being the official tailor and silk supplier to the Qing Imperial family. The family's fortune took a dive when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown.

The first scene that I caught was him deftly applying the family's traditional skills to mend modern clothings. Always interested in such esoteric knowledge, my interest was aroused.

Anne Heung (向海嵐) was cast as Bo Chui Lung (宝翠珑), formerly a princess from the Qing royal house, making a living by running a restaurant serving food reminiscent of the Imperial cuisine.

The second scene was on her explaining her business strategy, and I thought it was too good to be true - a TV series dwelling on professional secrets of traditional Chinese needlecraft and cuisine. Wow, better than Japan Hour. Well, it was too good to be true. If only it was so.

Though I only caught some scenes on and off for the past few weeks, I suppose I must be thankful that each segment I caught dealt in some part either with needlecraft or with food.

As of the last week's airing, Siu Chun Hang's younger brother Siu Chun Cheung (邵晋锵), acted by dashing Michael Tong (唐文龙), had successfully courted or been seduced by the femme vamp of the series, Lang Heung Ling (冷香泠), acted by Melissa Ng (吴美珩). I don't know since I missed that part. His former girlfriend, Hoi Tong (海棠), acted by Gigi Lai (黎姿), now held the torch for the older brother, in a stereotypical silently stoic way.

Now, Marco Ngai (魏骏杰) was no green actor, so when he made his appearance in the show as an apparently servile underling in Wing Ming Tung's triad, I can guess his character was going to have dramatic transformations into probably the main, or second main, villain.

This TVB series was popular enough to have fans creating websites in English, which was how I came to http://www.richesnstitches.8k.com/main.html

Now that the major conflict had been revealed, going by past experience, the interesting trivias of Chinese culture would probably be seen less and less, overtaken completely by plot development, action, conflict, character culling and the final resolution.

I don't think I'll bother about the show anymore, just watch if I happen to see it on someone else's TV.

SPOILER ALERT
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So according to fansites, Kong Wah and Siu Chun Hang both survived to the end of the series and both pursued Bo Chui Lung to the very last scene. And apparently, the series did not reveal her decision.

I wonder if it was the producers just trying to include some *artistic* element into the show which I suppose, despite the promising starts which I caught, was ultimately just an entertainment.