Xiang Wu, Xiang Yu, You Xiang Feng

AKA The Symphony of Rain

Main Cast: Lu Yi, Chen Kun, Zhou Xun, Luo Hai Qiong, Li Xiao Ran
Production: Mainland China (2000)
Episodes: 30
Type: Dramatic Romance
Directing: Zhao Bao Gang
Themesong: Shi Fo Ai Guo Wo (Sun Nan)
Sub-themesong: Jin Sheng De Ai Zou Yuan (Sun Nan and Ai Yu)

"Xiang Wu, Yu, You Xiang Feng" describes the melancholic love relationships of 7 young people in Shanghai in the 30s. With variations in personalities, would they create an impact? Would they ignite the fiery of passion or depict cold scenes of lonely hearts? This show injects complications into romance and is successfully portrayed by the beautiful artistes.

Character Analysis:

Li Ying Qi (Lu Yi)

Li Ying Qi is a trainee doctor in a local hospital and had studied western medicine overseas. He has a rich father. He is a great gentleman, he seems to be a good man but his playboy personally is shown gradually in the show. He is ultimately selfish and enjoys victory in the possession of woman. He thinks that he is too perfect and any women would fall for him. He doesn't seem to really 'love' anyone and he has betrayed the love of An Qi and his cousin, Li Jun. However, he realises his selfishness in love and decides to accompany his cousin for the rest of his life.

Lu Yi did a terrific good job in this show. From my above description, I think many people would visualise him as a really spoilt playboy. However, he doesn't present any traces of the 'hateful' spoilt playboy image in the show. Does that mean he is poor in his acting? I would boldly say no. He does it too well. It is really good for an actor to be so close to perfection in appearance, yet the viewers are still able to feel the selfishness and inner imperfection in him. I like this character so much in the beginning and end up hating him so much in the end. Lu Yi did it with no exaggeration. With a little arrogant flair and more than 'normal' acting, he brings out the role of Li Ying Qi. He is the best male performer in this show. He simply brings complication in this simple role and he makes this role so hard to comprehend in the beginning, but viewers are able to know the flaws of this character ultimately. It may be the script, but Lu Yi really does it so well.

Chen Zi Kun (Chen Kun)

A simple guy who appears pretty shallow and ignorant. He is quite happy-go-lucky and is quite boastful at times. He has good skills in repairing watches but the show does not place emphasis in this area. He is loved by both Zi Yi and Xin Yu. He marries Xin Yu in the end, but loses all freedom of being himself. He is simply too 'innocent'.

Chen Kun did an average job in the show. I think he exaggerated sometimes with his eyes popping out when he was surprised, angry, etc. I think he has limited expression. He is pretty handsome and he has a nice smile. This is a very good advantage. His acting doesn't impress me except that he looked really cheeky when he was with Xin Yu and Zi Yi. I think this character could have been developed in a better way with more complication and depth. Chen Kun doesn't give me the feeling that he acted out his character with enough depth.

Du Xin Yu (Zhou Xun)

Du Xin Yu is a highly ignorant person. She has a mental block that prevents her from growing up until she meets Chen Kun. She picks up things fast and proves to have a good, unique understanding of love: what is love and how she should love. Since she is still very ignorant, many may not agree with her definition of love. However, it is also because of her ignorance that I am surprised at her fast development, especially in the area of love. A very unique character. I think if she had grown up normally, she would have been very mature.

Zhou Xun is one of the best actresses I have seen in TV dramas. I think she is able to portray many different roles really well. Her character as Du Xin Yu is a quite big challenge. She has to act very child-like and innocent in the beginning. She has to show a minor bit of 'growing up' gradually throughout the show. In the end, she should be more mature than in the beginning and she can't act as though she is mature. It is very difficult for an actress to portray growing up in a convincing way and I think Zhou Xun did it well. I can see the difference in her from the first episode to the last. The difference is not very great but I can still see the difference. Zhou Xun has done it so well. Her acting is not exaggerated but she can bring out the character with the right amount of feeling.

Fang Zi Yi (Luo Hai Qiong)

Fang Zi Yi is a mature, kind hearted lady. She is baffled by love but she seems generally quite wise. Her biggest mistake is her marriage to Ying Qi. She is also decisive and seems to be quite strong internally despite her weak outer appearance. A lady-like character.

Luo Hai Qiong's performance is average. She appears far too weak. She also has limited expression. I practically didn't feel any great like or dislike for this character. She could have done a better job.

An Qi (Li Xiao Ran)

An Qi is a strong, intelligent woman. She is not a villain, but she isn't a simple, innocent lady either. I think she is a woman with her own mind. She is also wise to choose Ah Lai over Ying Qi in the end. A logical, intelligent lady with weak moments, An Qi doesn't seem to be very kind, but she isn't very unkind either.

I just love this character and Li Xiao Ran has done it well. Initially, I thought she was going to be a rather bad lady who plots evils against others. I was totally wrong. She is a woman who has her own mind and is clever in dealing with situations, yet she was not the villain to any extend. She only did what she did for self defense and this character is really practical and realistic as she has soft and weak moments. She needs Ah Lai at times. Why did I think that An Qi could have been a bad lady in the beginning? I remember in a scene. An Qi had delivered flowers to Zi Yi while she was in hospital. She said words to spite Zi Yi to get her to reject Ying Qi. This showed that she was clever at coming up with little tricks, but these little tricks were not that scheming or harmful. Li Xiao Ran was able to give me a feeling of 'evilness' in the beginning, but my impression of her changed as the show progressed. With the same praise as what I had given for Lu Yi and Zhou Xun, Li Xiao Ran delivered this character with depth and some uncertainty that really grabs for more attention.

Ah Lai (Sun Hong Lei)

The foster son of Du Yun He who is very faithful to him. He loves An Qi very much and is willing to go though all ups and downs with her. It is a pity that such a wonderful lover doesn't live to enjoy his happy moments with the one he loves. A comfort is that An Qi accepts him in the end. This character is manly, both in appearance, his faithfulness and dedication to love. He may seem quite rough but he has his positive traits.

Not a bad attempt from Sun Hong Lei. I liked him very much towards the end of the show. I think that his acting still doesn't really grab my attention. There isn't very much complication and opportunity for him to explore in his acting. This character is straightforward and simple. If he is too complicated, I may have had a headache trying to explore so many complicated characters in the show. :)

Wu Chu Yu (Liu Rui Qi)

Mother of An Qi and step mother of Xin Yu. A powerful, clever lady who is able to deal with different situations quite effectively. An Qi may have inherited her smartness, but she certainly has much more experiences than An Qi.

This is a supporting character. Liu Rui Qi is quite good as the mother. I liked her arrogance towards others and her contrasting softness towards An Qi.

Du Yun He (Kou Shi Xun)

Father of Xin Yu. He is quite a tyrant in my opinion. He plans everything and controls Chen Zi Kun. He is an endearing father to Xin Yu and he really does everything for her.

Kou Shi Xun did it quite well. I felt a bit uneasy as he acted as Zhou Xun's father instead of her husband (in Ju Zi Hong Le). He does have the 'rascal image and I liked how he portrayed his anxiety for Xin Yu.

Fan Li Jun (Xu Huai Huan)

Cousin of Ying Qi who loves him very much. She loves him so much that she is willing to do anything for him. She commits suicide, pretends to be quite insane, schemes, all for the sake of Li Ying Qi. A very faithful lover.

Xu Huai Huan did it well. I liked the part where she was pretending to be quite insane and accepted Zi Yi as Ying Qi's wife. I think she did it well in her pretentious, scheming plot against Zi Yi.

Review:

The story is quite simple. I shall keep it short on the story. The characters created are unique. It has been a long time since I watched a show with unique characters and there are a lot of grey areas on whether these characters are good or bad. Characters that seem to be good are not really that good whereas characters that seem to be bad are not really that bad too. The script is quite good. The characters wouldn't seem so unique without their lines. The transition is quite good and the pace is acceptable too. However, there are times when I thought some of the scenes and characters were not really necessary. An example would be Wu Guo Ping. He is considered a villain, but he doesn't really contribute a very big part to the story. An Qi's rape was pretty redundant too. This character also does not cause great disruption to any of the other characters, except for being very disgusting. The focus of the show was the complicated love stories and I thought the existing 6-7 main characters were already good enough to make it a complete show. I also think that there are too many main characters in the show. Li Ying Qi, Chen Zi Kun, Fang Zi Yi, Du Xin Yu, An Qi, Ah Lai, Fan Li Jun - 7 characters - revolving just around a love story. I think the scenes were distributed quite evenly among these characters and each artiste didn't have a good considerable amount of air time. However, the interactions among these characters were quite good. The complication is also well tackled.

This story was written in a way that could actually bring out the personality of the characters, giving a much deeper insight to them, rather than a mere superficial description. I liked this show very much as I really loved the way the characters were created. The storyline is not that good as the ending was too sad. There were so many couples and I thought it would have been better if one of them had turn out to have a happy ending. I give this show a 3.5 rating (0.5 star deducted) for a lousy, unacceptable and bad solution to end the complicated relationships. But I enjoyed the process of exploring the characters, so the rating is still quite high.

If you like exploring the personalities of characters, this is a good show. However, it is certainly not entertaining or funny. I think that it is quite thought-provoking, suitable for some occasional brain-cracking, which is a good break from the usual detective and suspense stories.

Websites:
http://www.ttv.com.tw/ttvmedia/drama/shanghai1930/ (Big 5)
http://ent.sina.com.cn/wind/index.shtml (GB)