Xiang Wu, Xiang Yu, You Xiang Feng

I watched this series a long time ago, but I remember it really capturing my attention. The characters were well developed and multi-dimensional. The love stories were believable and multi-faceted. I found myself especially drawn to the Zhou Xun's character of the mentally challenged girl. Her innocence and love for Ah Kun was something that touched me in such a deep way that I found myself thinking about it for weeks after the series ended. The moments shared betwen Ah Kun and Xin Yu are still some of my favorite romance scenes in a tv drama ever. Their love was so pure and innocent. Ah Kun's character was simple, sweet, and I couldn't help but feel for him. I loved his smile and even how gentle he was in his interactions with Xin Yu. Xin Yu's complete dedication to Ah Kun moved me so much. There was such a purity in their relationship. So many of the people around them were so corrupt and complicated, but the two of them embodied this ethereal, timeless love. The scenes of the two of them during their time away from shanghai were so precious and beautiful. This was a great love story.

Don't watch this though, if you don't like sad, tragic endings, as this was one of the worst. Everything else about this drama was well-paced and well-written, but I found the ending sloppy and incredibly abrupt. It was as if they ran out of money and just thought of the quickest way to end the show -- it lacked creativity, sensitivity, and resolution to the characters and their stories. Had they handled the last episode better, this would have gone down as one of my favorite series ever, but because of the end, I was left angry and feeling quite cheated. I can only now, after several years have passed, watch parts of it again.