[TVB] The Drive of Life 歲月風雲 General Discussion, Damien Lau, Raymond Lam, Charmaine Sheh Rating Options

[I L Y ★ S ...]

NEW SERIES: THE DRIVE OF LIFE
TVB GRAND PRODUCTION #1 2007
Airing July '07

MAIN WEBSITE: http://ent.qq.com/zt/2007/syfy/

TRAILER (MANDARIN): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qim6q15s-Y

SPECIAL THANKS TO: SEHSEH BLOG FOR ALL THE UPDATES

STATUS: COMPLETED FILMING/ AIRING SOON

FILMING DATES: OCTOBER '03 - APRIL '07

PRODUCERS: Tommy Leung, Poon Ka Tak
FILMING LOCATIONS: Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Canada

CONFIRMED CAST:
Damien Lau as Wah Man Hang
Gigi Wong as Hui Zhan Yan
Raymond Lam as Wah Zhen Pong
Jessica Hsuan as Wah Qing Yuk
Liu Ging Sang as Wah Man Hung
Feng Shao Feng as Wah/Tin Zhen Man
Michael Miu as Wah Man Shek
Sheren Tang as Wong Siu Fun
Toby Leung as Wah Ching Ling
Chan Mei Kei as Wai Cheung Ping
Charmaine Sheh as Wing Sau Fung
Myolie Wu as Fong Bing Yee
Chiu Ngor as Lee Seen Sin
Ron Ng as Sin Gai Keung
Ng Wai Kwok as Ngai Tin Hang
Joe Ma as Ngai Wing Piew
Michael Wong Man Tak as Wai Lun
Lau Kong as Wong Cheng Kwok
Power Chan as Wong Siu Leong
Angela Tong
Benz Hui as Ngai Lin Tai
Ellesmere Choi
Jaffrey Wong
Leanne Li as Bo Wai
Mary Hon as Lu Ho Yuet
Matthew Ko
Oscar Chan
Rocky Cheng
Other Cast & More...

FULL SYNOPSIS:
- Special Thanks To 'nachos_ger':

In 2007, a Chinese independent brand car is finally running on the US's road. In the car, there are 3 directors from Wah family’s car factory – Wah Zhen Pong, Tin Zhen Man and Wah Ching Ling. After many years of hard work, they have finally establish an independent brand of cars, and successfully built up their overseas markets, thus bringing China’s car industry out a step further. This is the Wah’s family dream, and also a story of a family breaking up but reunited together again to work towards their dream.

In the early 20th century, Wah Hoi Yuen, who once worked for the government, returned to his hometown from overseas studies, and witnessed imported cars being driven around the city. Thus upon his return, he decided to develop China’s local car industry. After going through many struggles, he finally built a car-repair factory, and before the World War 2, he expanded the car-repair factory to the manufacture of car engine as well, and slowly fulfilling his dream. However, war broke out, and the Wah’s corporation was forced to stop all expansions, until the war ended, and Republic of China was established, then the car engine factory reopened. At that time, it was already Wah Hoi Yuen’s son, Wah Yuk Cheong, being in charge. Yuk Cheong felt that the production of car engine was only a basic foundation; their ultimate aim was to build a car manufacturing empire. His hard work and effort put in influenced his 3 sons – Wah Man Hang, Wah Man Hung, and Wah Man Shek. However, stepping into the 1950s, the internal economic environment changed, the car-engine factory was switched into a state-operated corporation, and the development became slower. Until the 1960s, Wah Yuk Cheong passed away due to overworking, and his dream was unfulfilled.

In 1965, the eldest son, Wah Man Hang, had graduated from university, and felt that heading towards Hong Kong would have better chances of development, but there was still his mother to be taken care of. Hence, Man Hang and Man Hung decided to draw lots and see who would stay behind. But, Man Hang cheated, and led to Man Hung having to stay behind in China while Man Hang and Man Shek would proceed to Hong Kong. Man Hung initially wanted to be an engineer at the car-engine factory, but due to the internal political crisis after 1966, he was forced to return to his hometown, and lost contact with the others. Stepping into the 1970s, Man Hung finally returned to the car-engine factory to work, and later assisted in the production of tractors, taking a step forward towards the area of engine exports. On the other hand, Man Hang and Man Shek, who were in Hong Kong, continued working hard, and later obtained the appreciation of a businessman, Wong Cheng Kwok, who married his daughter, Wong Siu Fun, to Man Shek. He even took out capital and cooperated with the brothers to operate a steel processing factory. From then on, both brothers became wealthy businessmen.

In the early 1980s, China changed her policy and opened up their markets, leading to the local businesses being able to grow rapidly. For Man Hung’s tractor factory, it began to change its line to producing small trucks, and reaped positive results. Although the policy brought about many business opportunities, it also meant stiff competition, leading to this small car factory to face immense pressure in the market. In addition, there was no external car factories interested in cooperation, causing the business to go downhill. Right until the 90s, the car factory began to face trouble, and the only remedies left was to change the corporation to a collective ownership system, inject external capital and implement a modern management system. At that moment, Man Hang returned to search for Man Hung, but due to past reasons, the two brothers did not reconcile, and Man Hang secretly sent someone to invest in the car factory, in order to help Man Hung overcome this crisis.

On the other hand, in the early 90s, Man Hang and Man Shek were involved in a fight over the ownership of a steel processing factory with Wong Cheng Kwok’s only son, Wong Siu Loeng, as Wong Cheng Kwok was about to die. But Man Hang felt that Siu Loeng was incapable, and did not wish for the factory to be destroyed in Siu Loeng’s hands, thus he got involved in a power struggle with the Wong family. But Man Shek looked upon Wong Cheng Kwok as his father, plus he promised him that he would help to look after the properties of the Wong family, thus he had no choice but to oppose his brother. In the end, Man Hang succeeded in chasing the Wong family out, and took full control of the steel processing factory, but fell out with Man Shek instead. As Man Shek felt that he owed the Wong family, and due to the return of Hong Kong, he decided to emigrate with his family to Canada, and broke off all ties with Man Hang.

As 1997 closed in, although Man Hang had full control of the steel processing organization, the business was declining gradually. On the other hand, his son, Wah Zhen Pong, was doing well with the property business. Zhen Pong and the shareholders coerced Man Hang to direct a huge amount of capital onto the investment of property development, and he had no choice but to agree. However, after the return of Hong Kong, the economic crisis hit, and the property business under Zhen Pong collapsed, causing the steel processing organization to be affected as well, and finally all operations were terminated. Zhen Pong became the wrath of all. Fortunately, the Wah family still had the car factory in China, thus Zhen Pong made up his mind to return to China and manage the factory, hoping that he could make a comeback. Man Hang and Zhen Pong fell out with each other, as Man Hang would rather be staying in Hong Kong to build up his business again.

Zhen Pong was determined to earn profits for the car factory, but due to the difference in management style between China and Hong Kong, he had difficulties in managing it. But as everyone had the same aim, thus after coordination and hard work, Zhen Pong, Man Hung and his son, Tin Zhen Man, were united to stop the losses. Later on, Zhen Pong found out that his third uncle’s daughter, Ching Ling, was actually an outstanding car designer, and persuaded her to return to help out, so that there would be bigger development. At the same time, Man Shek returned from Canda and patched up with Man Hang. Man Hang witnessed how Zhen Pong was putting in so much effort in managing the car factory, thus he decided to rope in Man Shek to start a business dealing with car parts, hoping that this would help in the future path of the car factory. Stepping into 2000, due to the 2 generations working hard together, a car of an independent brand was finally being invented successfully. Due to having the same dream, a family which used to be separated reunited to fulfill the dream together……

The business in the car factory was slowly going back on track, however the 2 heads in the factory, Zhen Pong being in charge of the business management and Zhen Man being in charge of sales and marketing, often clashed with their different ideas. In 2001, China entered into WTO, and the competition within the car industry finally came. Imported car brands were entering into China market, causing fierce competition. The external car factory which sold engines to the Wah’s car factory decided to stop their supply, causing problems in their production. This led them to realize that the engines are the soul of the cars, and it was extremely important to do the production of engines themselves. Actually, Man Hung had already silently invented a car engine for the factory, and due to this crisis, the research program on this invention was forced to speed up. Zhen Pong decided to produce the engines themselves to complement the second-generation of cars, but due to his impatience for success, it led to the factory facing bankruptcy. Zhen Man left the factory due to the difference in ideas, and Man Hang passed away due to his illness, leading to Zhen Pong’s life hitting the rock bottom……

In 2004, the car factory was in a bad state. Man Hung used his elder status and encouraged Zhen Pong to stand up again, and assist him to fulfill his grandfather’s wish. Zhen Pong learnt from the painful experience, and went to Hong Kong to research on the listing of the car factory into the market, hoping that the production of second-generation cars would save the factory. Zhen Pong’s undying spirit touched those people who once left him, and they returned to the factory and help out. After the factory got listed, their competitor made use of negative news and attacked the car factory, causing its share price to fall, and their second-generation cars being unable to surface into the market. Zhen Pong and the others were even sued by investors, and more trouble came along…… On the other hand, Zhen Man, who left the factory, had successfully set up his own car marketing company, and seeing how Zhen Pong fought hard to continue fulfilling his dream, he was touched and decided to put away past grudges, investing capital and manpower into the factory. Cooperating with Zhen Pong again, both tried to solve all the problems……

The brothers unite to overcome all obstacles. From 20th century to 2007, the Wah family members have gone through many crisis, and finally reunite again, successfully establishing their own brand of cars, and fulfilled the older generation’s dream. Because they believe unity brings about success. With their cars, will they then be able to leave and drive towards a bright future……

More Soon.

This post has been edited by StUpIdCuPiD-Sc: Jun 30 2007 5 11 AM

[AznVietGirl9025]

Nice,its gonna be a Charray serie! Great cast Raymond,Jessica,Michael and Ron ( again?) This is probably Jessica last serie .. Anyway looking forward to watch this...

[kenji1234]

Gallen is NOT in this. It's been confirmed. He is filming a series in Shanghai (not for TVB)

I am looking forward to this. Leung Ka Su and Poon Ka Duck are great producers. I have high expectations for their collaboration. This series has a great cast except for Jessica and Charmaine. They are extremely boring and always give one-note performance especially Jessica. That's why I am so relieved to see Sharen in the cast. She is great in all her series and really gets into her character, even the little details and mannerism. I am sure Michael and her will have great chemistry as husband and wife. I am also glad that Raymond is the lead. It's about time TVB starts promoting him. I hope Ron's role is not big, I don't want to stare at a block of wood for 60 episodes, thank you.

[warlock]

Great Charmaine & Raymond will be inside. I can't wait to see & hear more from dis series. A very good cast too I am already excited to watch dis series just by thinkin bout it I hav to get by with da pictures for now.

[hkangel]

Tommy Leung is a great producer - Loved both his Golden Faith and Survivor's Law.

Too bad Gallen isn't in this... I miss his series.

[hpfan]

so is this gonna be kinda an ancient series? since there arent really big shipping industries right now. and i thought gallen was gonna be in this, i guess not, he must really not like tvb. and wow, i cant believe that raymond is the main lead role, over michael and joe. tvb is definitely promoting him. the main female is probably myolie or charmaine, depends on who ray ends w/ in the end. ron is a car racer, interesting, bet he loves that.

[lora]

what about myolie? who will she portray as?

[reiyi]

To StUpIdCuPiD-Sc,

Please give proper credit to the source of your information. Don't just copy people's hardwork (searching for info and translating/summarising them from chinese to english) and take credit for it.

Most of your info, u got from sehseh's blog (http://idlemindsehseh.blogspot.com/), so, give her the credit.

Proofs :
http://idlemindsehseh.blogspot.com/2006/07...ode-series.html
http://idlemindsehseh.blogspot.com/2006/08...-newsflash.html

[warlock]

Anyone got any pictures fr da costume fitting? I thought it was supposed to be today or something? Thanks in advance

[kenji1234]

I saw the costume fitting on TV. Jessica looks a little fat. A lot of characters have to speak Mandarin for their role and Jess said she went and bought those audio tapes to learn mandarin. But then she found out she doesn't need to speak mandarin for the role. Myolie got a new haircut. I don't like it, it was short and it makes her face looks bigger. Raymond and Charmaine looks good though. They will play their characters from age 26-ish to 40.

I was also suprise that Chan Mei Kei is filming a TVB series again. She played Kenix's sister in DIF and sort of retired after filming Untraceable Evidence 2 many years ago (she played Flora's sister).

[sillylili88]

I am not very excited about thsi series for some reason..i usually get really excited about BIG Production series.. but for some reason the cast is that attractive except for Raymond Lam and maybe Charmaine ..only bc i think charmaine looks good with ray hehe..
As for the cast.. i don't feel like it si a good mix of ppl. I must admit i do like the veteran actors/actresses such as Sheren Tang, damian lau, and Michael Mui..and even Jessica.. but i feel like they don't have a good counterpart for Jessica.. Joe Ma? For some reason, i still can't accept him as a leading role. I don't like thsi choice at all. As for the rest of the cast, I can't stand Ron Ng's acting still.. I can't bear to watch him for 60 epi long.. worst than that.. Toby Leung is terrible..omg. she cant' act.. terrible to watch on screen.. don't know how i am going to last all 60 epi.. but i am going ot try for Raymond only... bc i really enjoy watching him..esp in a modern series.. he doesn't get a lot of opportunity to do modern series..i am neutral on the choice for Myolie.. even though i feel like she si all over the place..
I just hope the China actors they used will be better....

[gokutrunk]

why tvb doesn't promo young actor/actress...all big production are same casts...always fadan/big sister/siu sung/big brother play main lead in the big production...i hope that tvb will give new face a chance (look like they promo louis koo, julian, kenix, mariane, jessica at the years 94-95-96)...

[elloshiions]

ohh this looks interesting! i like the cast for this. definately gonna watch it. cant wait!! ><

[Ida101]

i dont think charmaine and myolie will lead over jessica because jessica is still considered the No.1 sister in TVB at the moment...

[hrm]

TVB8 Clip "The Changing Times" Press Conference here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6jZcFP_yJI

宣萱:是演個乖乖女,很聽爸爸的話,老爸說什麼就做什麼,但遇到感情問題還是會反抗老爸... .
Jessica: Plays a good daughter, she listens to her father and does whatever he says. But when it comes to love relationship she will go against her dad…..

阿佘:很堅強,有上進心,孝順母親的女孩,一開始跟林峰有一段情,但因為林峰的老媽跟阿佘的老媽不合,所以 影響兩人的感情....
Charmaine: Strong-willed, hard working, filial daughter to her mother. Starts off having a relationship with Raymond, but because Raymond’s mother and Charmaine’s dad so not get along, it interferes with the two’s love relationship…..

杏兒:一個活潑可愛,名字叫方秉怡,演林峰的秘書
Myolie: Cute and active, her name is Fong Bing Yi, she will play Raymond’s secretary.


大苗:性格有點滑頭,很會講話,然後很受美女的喜愛,跟雯女是夫妻,外表看起來很幸福,但其實兩人的問題很 多....
Michael Miu: Character is somewhat sly, he knows how to talk. Well liked by females. Is husband and wife with Sheren Tang. On the outside they look very sweet and loving, but the two have many problems....

雯女:大苗管的公司是雯女家的,是個千金小姐,所以不需要做什麼事,有空就去shopping什麼之類的. ...
Sheren: The company that Michael runs belongs to her family. She is a rich girl, so she doesn’t need to do any work. When she has time she’ll go shopping and those types of things.
_________________
Credit: Kiki myoliewu.net

Damien and Micheal also play brothers.

This post has been edited by tcwas: Oct 1 2006 5 18 AM

[warlock]

Dis series is sounding interesting every day. I read new info about dis & it makes me really excited to watch it. Too bad they hav just barely started with the shooting. Wat a long wait!!!!

[hpfan]

yea there are so much news and media about this series. i cant wait for this to come out, but it will be next summer, so far away.

[RayMich]

omg can't wait to watch this series already
raymond is the lead so cool
and all the cast i like most of them such as jessica, michael, ron, joe and charmaine etc..well i do wish gallen lo will be in it but unfortunately not gonna be happen. when i look at the cast remind me of golden faith [love that series]

[caliboy]

yeah i wanna watch this too. mostly because of jessica. i don't care if her performances are considered "boring". i like watching her. hope her chracter isn't stupidly stubborn, like many of her characters.

don't really care much about the other cast. sheren teng is cool. but she keeps playing the same b*t*hy independent woman who also cares for her family.. yadayadayada..

[venetianlove]

EEEEp. Charray coupling! Whoots, definitely looking forward to this series!

[warlock]

Well too bad Charmaine will not end up with Ray. How sad I really hope they will have another series dat da two of them will end up together. Still I am waiting patiently for dis series to come out.

[lil_tiger]

I am really looking foward to this series as i am a really big fan of CharRay.... but i really hope charmaine and ray end up together at the end though....
I really like the casts.... and i cant wait to watch it nxt year!!!

[lb-lb]

the casts look good...i wonder who will ron end up with...don't tell me it's toby?!

[crunchster]

wah im SUPER SUPER excited..
they are COMING TO VANCOUVER TO FILM.

although i dont know WHICH part.
but just TIHNKING aabout it makes me happy.

usually ppl just say Canada.

yet they dont realize CANADA..is not like HK.
where itz just one place.
CANADA is HUGE...

and usually itz TORONTO.

but this time itz CONFIRMED VANCOUVER.

i hope they film in downtown or sth.
haha i will be there EVERYDAY!!!!


hope they come during the summer!!

WANT TO SEE CHARMAINE!

[hrm]

E-Buzz Studio Filming Clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU6a7I9xr04


Is it just me or they use 16x9 video screen resolution?
Credit: Fung Forever

[crunchster]

thank you for sharing.
haha the office is sO typical TVB type office.

whoah joe ma looks really old in this series for some reason.


as for 16:9/...
really i dont find it like that ^^'

[crunchster]

oh haha.. sorry about that...whoah it is 16.9 type.
akk i hope the series isnt really like that.
i hate watching series with that screen.
i have to say.ray looks REALLY cute in this series!

realy hope he ends up with charmaine!


cause i heard there were rumours saying ray will end up with myolie.
=S

[Blu.Monkee]

http://www.sendspace.com/file/gtc0j9 (EBuzz)

A sneak peek whilst they were filming.

[reflections]

hm the actors in this show are all pretty solid..


look forward to watching it

[CrazyB0y]

this drama look nice o ^^

[crunchster]

omg charmaine looks SOO pretty in those pics.
cant wait to see more clips about this series.

and im also DYING TO KNOW where they're going to film when they come to vancouver..


hope they will say something about it soon!

[hehehe]

this maybe a greatest drama in TVB for that year....So many great actors/actresses such Raymond Lam, Myolie Wu, Charmaine Sheh, Jessica Hsuan, Sheren Tang, Michael Miu, Ron Ng, Damien Lau and Joe Ma....I'm sure will watch this drama....

[Rikayla]

OOOOOOH. I'm so excited for Raymond to film with Jessica. I hope they get a lot of scenes together. Two of my favourite actors in the same TVB show. Aweeeesome.

[hrm]

Joe Ma crawls under a car to win Jessica’s heart

Source: Apple

Jessica Hsuan and Joe Ma were filming early yesterday morning for their new series, “The Changing Times” 《風雲歲月》. The scene talked about how Joe was trying to win over Jessica’s heart, going as far as kneeling in the street, crawl under a car, and even touching a sewage lid! However, the main purpose was just for Joe to retrieve Jessica’s earring for her. Seeing a sophisticated, well-bred guy willing to kneel in the dirty street for her, Jessica was very touched. They hugged, held hands, and walked off as the scene became very romantic.

Although through the camera’s point of view, it was very sweet, but if looked from a different angle, not very so, as Joe forgot the principle rules of being sanitary: After crawling underneath a car and even touching a sewage lid, Joe forgot to wash his hands and went on to hold Jessica’s hand!

The anniversary is coming up soon and Jessica is nowhere near the rumors flying about, however, she seems to be okay with it. Not stress at all, but seem to be very happy, too. Before filming started, Jessica even went to a nearby convenient store to buy drinks for the whole cast and crew; as they all shouted “Forver Jessica Hsuan” in return of her good deed.

Credit: http://tvbsidsation.blogspot.com/

Jessica Hsuan has been busy lately filming for TVB's 60 episode series, "The Changing Times." Other cast members in the series also include Charmaine Sheh, Myolie Wu, Sheren Tang, Ron Ng, Raymond Lam, Joe Ma, Michael Miu, Damien Lau etc. Due to the high production values, Jessica also put a lot of effort into her performance, showcasing a wide range of emotions during filming. Due to Jessica's immersement in acting, she unintentionally revealed herself on the set!

Since "The Changing Times" is one of TVB's mega productions, the studio does not want too many of the script details to be revealed to the public. The production crew did not welcome reporters visiting the set.

Jessica and Joe Ma were filming outdoors last night, with Jessica's face contorted in a sad expression for the scene. Originally Jessica was wearing slippers, but when it was time to film the scene, a production assistant brought heels for her to change.

While Jessica was putting on the high heels, she accidentally revealed herself since she was wearing a skirt. The female assistant noticed and warned Jessica to be more careful.

Jessica left her legs open, but pulled her skirt down to cover herself. Her posture looked quite odd and the male crew members secretely looked on.

Joe had to comfort Jessica in the scene, with her laying her head on his shoulder. Suddenly, a blonde youth played a trick on them from behind. Jessica, who was immersed in her acting, was a bit scared by the sudden intruder. Realizing that it was only a prank, she burst out laughing.

"The Changing Times" is a joint collaboration between TVB and China's CCTV. Filming will be taking place in Hong Kong, Canada, and China. The series will be released in October 2007 worldwide.

Credit: jaynestars.com

[hrm]

Our family (Damien Lau, me, Jessica Husan and Raymond Lam) are better and better each day as we film together for the series!

This night all we filmed were dinner scenes, if it's not breakfast, then it's dinner. The food on the table were from the afternoon until midnight. Even though there were plastic wraps, but the sauce of the food from the dish was all on the plastic wraps, totally lost my apetite after seeing it.

Luckily, I brought lemon chicken wing, so when we were at the table, everyone took their chopsticks and went for the chicken, it was so funny! Looking at the play backs, we thought we looked like we were eating naturely! This is our way to have fun while working!

Damien often doesn't smile, especially when he's ready to film. Today, he was wearing a shirt with two layer sleeves that has a flower pattern. When daughter (Jessica) found out, she exclaimed, "Daddy actually has a flower shirt under his shirt! Under that flower shirt, is it possible that he has a body with tattoos?" Damien immediately smiled a bit, but after a while, Jessica saw that Damien seemed serious again, so went up to him again, this time Damien pretended he was taking his clothes off and said, "I'm gonna let you see my tattoos!" And everyone in the room was laughing!

Raymond Lam was also a kid that likes to fool around, always love to take pictures of those who are sleeping. Yesterday night, he took a picture of Damien drinking tea, with foggy glasses. My reaction was pretty quick too, and I snapped a picture of him too. Just like this, the family scenes ended under serious but fun condition!

credits: Raymondforest, Gigi's Kitchen
translated by: vickie
http://www.the-beehive.blogspot.com/

[speed]

omg is Chen Kun really really in this series?!?!?! OMG That's so awesome!

Chen Kun and Sonija were soooooooooooo awesome in that series with Sonija as XiShi and with Joe Ma and Damien Lau... the series eng name is like Warlords or The Conquest (dunno which name was settled) but the series was soooo good and Chen Kun and Sonija were so amazing... so glad to be able to see chen kun in cantonese series again!

[mashimiriam]

if you guys to Gigi Wong's blog, she frequently updates photos she took while filming with Damien, Jess, and Ray...

http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/gigi-wong

[CarelessCharms]

My dad says some stage crew are really changing the road signs etc with chinese words near his workplacce in DownTown Vancouver, he said that the sign that originally said "parking lot" in english now says parking lot in chinese, he heard from some people it is a sanghai series, so then i thought about it might be the changing times!! even if it isn't it's still pretty cool people are filming near it's workplace, this series is a big production right? because my dad said they are spending a lot of money on changing the signs and stuff and they are using fine material for the signs. i can't wait till they film because i might be able to meet them!!

[hrm]

Even if they film in Vancouver which they will, why do they have to change the street signs? I mean the setting is abroad which means that English is used.

This post has been edited by tcwas: Nov 13 2006 1 34 AM

[dubz]

This seems like an awesome series. Haven't seen such a huge production for a long time. 60 episodes is pretty long, the airing will span for 3 months, thats crazy.