Song Bird

Starring:
Nadia Chan as Zhou Xuan
Leon Lai as Siu Wah

This series was based on a real life story, of a famous actress and singer in the 1940's - 1950's named Zhou Xuan.

Warning! Spoilers!
The series starts off with a lady giving birth to a fatherless child in a nunnery. Because the lady needs to get on with her life, she left the baby girl with a nun. The baby was then given to a nice woman as a daughter. The girl was named Xiao Hong, later on known as Zhou Xuan (Nadia Chan). Xuan's father was a trickster who helps English men translate stuff in Hong Kong to earn money. Her step brother was a big gambler, along with her father, so that at the age of fifteen, she had to stop school and start working, washing laundry for people. Coincidentally, she washed costumes for the Min Yue musical Troupe, and met the head, a very nice lady called Wen Jie (Helen Mah). Because her father owed a lot of debt he sold her off to a prostitute house. Running away Xuan went to hide in the Min Yue office, as the people chased her. Luckily, Wen Jie was nice enough to pay off her father's debt and Xiao Hong was now working at the Min Yue place to pay back her debts.

Siu Wah (Leon Lai) a talented song and music composer also joined Min Yue Troupe after coming back to Hong Kong and there, he and Xuan started to fall in love. Not only that, the Min Yue troupe started to discover the singing talent in Xuan and asked her to join. At first Xuan messed up and wanted to give up but at the encouragement of Siu Wah she finally became popular. Directors and other companies wanted to hire Xuan to play and sing for them. Siu Wah and Xuan are now dating and loved each other more than before, and wanted to get married, but Xuan's godfather who is a big director, didn't allow that because he worried that if Xuan marries, she would have to be a house wife and his shows would go down. Finally eloping, they married and return. Xuan's godfather was not happy and forced Xuan to work and make movies harder than ever, causing her to have a miscarriage. This was a plan to break up Xuan and Wah.

After losing the baby Xuan was already under a lot of stress and depression. Hiring a prostitute, Xuan's godfather starting spreading rumors about Wah cheating on her, leading them to a divorce. Few years later, Xuan was dating a rich playboy who was actually cheating on her for money and was also having an affair with her secretary. After getting her pregnant the playboy revealed to her that he was cheating on her for money and fame. Going to a check-up one day, Xuan met the prostitute whom she thought had an affair with her old husband. There she revealed everything about what really happened. It was her godfather all along trying to break her up with her husband. Under all the stress, Xuan went away and met her old husband. She wanted to reconcile with him but it was too late. He was married to another woman and was leading a happy life. Already Xuan was under a lot of depression and stress. Her movies and shows began to get worse and finally it went to a stage where her fame went downfall and she lost everything.

This series is very good, but if you're someone who doesn't like tragic endings, I warn you not to watch it. It is full of emotions, feelings and all I can say is that it was excellent. The acting was great, both Leon Lai and Nadia Chan made it so real. Nadia Chan made a great Zhou Xuan with the jealousy and anger she had when she thought her husband was cheating on her. And Leon Lai's frustration seemed to come out very normally when he tried to convince her that he wasn't cheating on her. I give it only a four star rating because of Xuan's mother. I think this woman annoys me a lot with her trying to protect her daughter and etc. I know all mothers are like that but she exaggerated it a little too much.