Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor speaks at the launching ceremony of the TV program "Stories of Lion Rock Spirit" in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong, June 18, 2022. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVERNMENT)
HONG KONG – A television drama series telling of the resilient struggle of Hong Kong’s grassroots for a better life in the past three decades will be telecast from June 20 as part of celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the city’s return to the motherland.
The 27-episode, reflecting Hong Kong’s famous “Lion Rock Spirit”, will be aired on Channel 77 of Hong Kong Open TV. It features a host of local actors and actresses, including Myolie Wu Hang-yee, Aarif Lee Chi-ting and Tse Kwan-ho. The director Ng Gam-yuen and screenwriter Ella Chan Bo-wah are also from Hong Kong.
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The Cantonese drama tells of a Chinese mainland-born woman who came to Hong Kong with her daughter in the 1980s for a reunion with her husband. The man later died in an accident, forcing her to take on the mantle of her husband’s restaurant business. With the support of the restaurant’s staff and friends, she succeeded, against all odds.
The drama has again demonstrated Hong Kong’s advantages in providing professional services under the nation’s overall development, said Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam
The drama, aimed at showcasing the drastic changes that have taken place in Hong Kong in the past few decades, is co-produced by Hong Kong’s Bauhinia Culture Group and two mainland companies. The TV series began airing on the mainland from June 12 in Mandarin. As of Saturday, the drama had scored 8.2 out of 10 in audience ratings on Tencent Video – one of the mainland’s major video streaming platforms.
Speaking at a ceremony on Saturday to launch the TV series, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor noted that under the agreement on trade in services of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement – the first free trade pact between the special administrative region and the mainland – Hong Kong’s film and television sectors can now provide a wider range of professional services to the mainland market.
The drama has again demonstrated Hong Kong’s advantages in providing professional services under the nation’s overall development, she said.
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A growing number of mainland-Hong Kong co-produced movies and television dramas have shown that such cooperation is fruitful, Lam said, adding that she hopes the film industry could make good use of the SAR’s position as the Hub for Arts and Cultural Exchanges between China and the rest of the World, which is highlighted in the nation’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025).
The television drama’s title and theme are reminiscent of the well-known Hong Kong TV series Below the Lion Rock, which was first telecast in the 1970s. It made the Lion Rock mountain a symbol of the “can-do” and “never-say-die” spirit of local residents.
Lam said people are Hong Kong’s most valuable asset, adding she hopes that the new TV drama can also arouse and strengthen Hong Kong people’s affection for their home city.