Mr Chow Net-ted me

Now how is it that my two most prominent Chinese crushes both have the same surname???
But it was so nice to see Jay act in the same movie as Chow Yuen Fatt in Curse Of The Golden Flower (although that is NOT one of my favourite Jay movies...except for the brilliantly melodius theme song which Jay composed and sang...I just don't like him in a period get-up somehow).

But a thousand apologies...I'm digressing before I've even started on the subject proper for this post. *grimace*

Rewind to 1979...I was about 14 then.
Sunday night, 9pm.
All assemble in front of television, ready for another hour of dramatic twists and turns in a Cantonese serial which had taken Singapore by storm!
Starring Chow Yuen Fatt and Carol Cheng, it was tremendously popular and I think even non-Chinese viewers were caught up in it!
Man In The Net aka 网中人 ("mong chong yan" in Cantonese) ran for about 80 episodes, if my memory serves me correctly.
Chow and Cheng played a pair of star-crossed lovers (like there are ever any other type?), in an intriguing storyline. I cannot remember the exact details but he went to prison for some misdeeds which were totally not his fault or something like that.

Here's a 4-minute teaser trailer of the first episode:

There was one very groundbreaking point about this serial which sticks in my memory to this day:

It was the very first time the male and female leads KISSED!!!
In a TV serial!!!!
And not just a chaste peck on the cheek or mouth, mind you....it was a full-on liplock for the longest time ever!
Well...it was long by the standards in those days!!
I was like...*GASP*....WOW!!! "SQUEEEE!"

And the next day at school, that's all we girls could talk about during our usual Monday post-Man-In-The-Net discussion, which was de rigeur for this show.
Even the newspapers were reporting on it, with one very prominent headline which I can still see in my mind's eye till now:
Kiss Kiss! Catharsis!

Younger readers may find this somewhat amusing but there was never ever any *real* kissing in Chinese serials/movies back then.\
Even now, I think the conservatism is still there but of course, there are also movies like Lust, Caution and the like....times have changed.

Anyway, this was THE serial which catapulted Chow Yuen Fatt to fame and he would go on to star in many other shows and movies, eventually moving on to Hollywood.
Just look at him in the little clip I posted:
Wasn't he quite the tall, dark and handsome hunk then already?
Yes, the hair was not so great but that was the style then. ;)

Here's a little youtube tribute to him, circa 2009:

I followed his career with great interest but found that his roles in Hollywood just did not do him justice. Which is not hard to believe, as I think it was really not easy to find a character which suits a native Chinese actor, without some form of steretyping or parodying.
Thankfully, he has now returned to concentrating on Chinese movies and is doing well.

I will always respect Mr Chow.
He has integrity and has remained scandal-free all these years...no mean feat in the showbiz industry.
I believe he will continue acting for many years to come.
He looks as good as ever, albeit a little greyer so he qualifies as a Hunk-le now, I guess. :)

Just for fun, here's a little clip from Jay's concert in 2007, where Mr Chow (and Jacky Cheung) made a cameo appearance, to the delight of the fans!!
NB: they come on from about 1:51.
Enjoy!!!