Time Before Time
Time Before Time (1997)
The first time I watched ‘Time Before Time’ was back when I was 11 and I remember loving it immensely. Though I didn’t understand everything, the beautiful romance was hard to forget. Having recently re-watched it as a 19-year-old, I now understand better why this series has always been one of my favourites. The cast, characters, storyline, mystery, romance and the ghost theme make this different from your run-of-the-mill ‘boy meets girl and falls in love’ love story. According to my grandmother, this story of the haunted ‘Kwong Cheung Lung’ is true and my from own research I’ve found that there have been other Chinese productions of this famous tale.
Theme Song
The theme song, 抱緊眼前人 ‘Pou Gan Ngan Chien Yun’ (Holding The One In Front of You Closely) is sung by the legendary Anita Mui. It is a beautiful song and relates very well to the storyline of ‘Time Before Time’. It is about the fact that we don’t know what fate we will be served and so, we should not take those around us for granted. Also, the use of the erhu in the song is a perfect touch as it adds a nostalgic and pitiful sound to the song which suits the series’ story a lot.
The Story - Spoilers ahead!
The series begins with the death of a young couple, Luk Man Kwong (Gordon Lam) and Siu Fu Yung (Kathy Chow) in Guangzhou, 1922. We then suddenly jump into 1947 Hong Kong where we meet Hui Dai Kwong (Gordon Lam again) – a lazy, immature and lower-class guy, very much unlike the clever and talented Luk Man Kwong. Though these two characters are different in many ways, Gordon plays both these parts like it's his only one - wonderful acting.
During one night in the allegedly haunted Kwong Cheong Lung store, Hui Dai Kwong accidentally releases the ghost of Siu Fu Yung from an old paper umbrella. She mistakes him for her lover, but after Dai Kwong explains that he isn’t the one she’s looking for (and after being scared out of his wits!) he reluctantly promises to help her, hoping that in return she’d help him get rich with her ghostly powers. This was a very funny part, especially when Dai Kwong took advantage of Fu Yung's naiveity and pretty much bullied her into helping him strike it big. Of course, being stuck in an umbrella for 20-something years, she is hopeless with skills such as future-seeing which ends up back-firing on Kwong!
When Siu Fu Yung was a young servant/“mui jai” back in the 1920s, she had fallen in love with Luk Man Kwong – the youngest of 3 brothers whose father founded ‘Kwong Cheong Lung’. Luk Man Kwong was 25, clever, talented, handsome and kind-hearted. Despite his rich and well-off upbringing, he was extremely hardworking and passionate about the business of ‘Kwong Cheong Lung’, making it more successful than ever.
At the radio station, Siu Fu Yung nostalgically recounts the first times she meets him and how their seemingly impossible relationship developed. For instance, one time Fu Yung was drenched in rain, carrying goods which she had to hurry back to Dan Fung, her female owner. Unable to find anyone on the streets kind enough to help her, she is surprised when Luk Man Kwong appears holding his umbrella over her. He ends up lending his umbrella to her before rushing off with only a suitcase over his head. It was on this meeting that Fu Yung began to fall in love with him. Personally, these flashbacks were the most memorable parts of the series...and these are the scenes I like to keep re-watching.
After some cute and fated meetings, Man Kwong finds out that the shy Fu Yung is also a talented singer. He offers to end her job as a servant and help “renew” her to get a new leash on life. Spending a lot of time together, he teaches Fu Yung to use the abacus, how to read and to write – falling more and more in love with each other along the way. Dan Fung, who herself was very much in love with Man Kwong, had spread lies to Man Kwong's father that Fu Yung had once been a prostitute. Because of this, he disallowed the young pair’s relationship, causing Kwong to renounce himself from the Luk household in anger. From here on, Man Kwong and Fu Yung’s situation worsens but their love for each other grows in the hardships they had to endure, including poverty.
Time warp – let’s fast forward to the present – 1940's Hong Kong. As time passes, Hui Dai Kwong begins to develop strong feelings for Siu Fu Yung, to the dismay of Ah Ying, Dai Kwong's fiancee. One stormy night, Dai Kwong stujbles into the concert hall in which Fu Yung had performed in and Man Kwong proposed. Memories of them flash in Dai Kwong’s mind and we find out that after all the searching, he is the reincarnated life of Luk Man Kwong to the surprise of him and Fu Yung. With her jealousy and possessiveness reaching its peak, Ah Ying warns Fu Yung not to come near Dai Kwong again and feeling guilty, Fu Yung hence tries her best to avoid him.
The revelation that Dai Kwong is the reincarnated Man Kwong overjoys the 2nd of the Luk brothers, Luk Ah Lung who welcomes Dai Kwong back as the brother he had lost. In the second half of the series, Dai Kwong and Fu Yung’s relationship continues in secrecy (well at least they tried to hide it). This included really amusing scenes of body possession, in-dream reunions as well as the time when Fu Yung tricked Dai Kwong into believing that she had reincarnated into a dog in the hope that he would forget about her and only love Ah Ying.
Slowly, the mystery of who killed Luk Man Kwong and Siu Fu Yung is solved. Along with this, Ah Ying finally accepts that Dai Kwong and Fu Yung’s relationship is inevitable, destined, and cannot be stopped by her or anyone. But being the kind-hearted person (or ghost) that she is, Fu Yung retreated to the ghost world, allowing Ah Ying to have Dai Kwong for one lifetime. Unfortunately, the few last episodes didn’t deal much with Fu Yung and Dai Kwong’s relationship – and thanks to Ying, they barely got to say much to each other…That is until the very final scene of the series! Since the Luk Man Kwong and Siu Fu Yung scenes were my favourite, I was really happy when we were shown more flashbacks near the end of the series where the story was more focused on the drama at ‘Kwong Cheung Lung’.
This series really deals with the scenario of a human loving a ghost. Is it right? Does it matter if the one you love is a ghost? In the Chinese culture, there are many beliefs and superstitions surrounding ghosts and watching 'Time Before Time' taught me a lot more than I expected.
The Cast:
Absolutely perfect casting in my opinion.
Gordon Lam
He was amazing as the smart, handsome and romantic Luk Man Kwong. He was brilliantly convincing in this role and caused me to swoon along with Siu Fu Yung! Similarly as Hui Dai Kwong, Gordon portrayed the playfulness this character so naturally that I’m in awe of his versatility. The contrast between his funny scenes as Dai Kwong and the seriously emotional ones of Man Kwong is so huge but he does them all so professionally like the innate actor he is.
Kathy Chow
Kathy Chow as Siu Fu Yung was also perfect casting! Her girly enthusiasm, innocence and shyness as a girl-servant was adorable. Like Gordon, she was also able to portray two very different personalities. As a ghost, Kathy’s forlorn expression was wonderful and really shows how her character has changed from being jovial to depressed. With her beautiful smiles, face and voice Kathy’s role as a young servant girl was so adorably convincing (though she was already 30 by then).
Gordon and Kathy have such wonderful onscreen chemistry. Both are such great actors. Hats off to them both.
Florence Kwok
Florence as Ah Ying was also spot-on casting. Her jealous rages and occasional violent tantrums were done so naturally. On the other side of the scale, when she cries for Fu Yung to leave Dai Kwong alone, I actually felt sorry for her character.
Kenneth Lau
Though I was a strong supporter of Dai Kwong and Fu Yung, Kenneth Lau’s character who also loved Fu Yung was so charming and sweet that sometimes I couldn’t help but feel that he deserved Fu Yung as much as Dai Kwong did. What I loved about his character was that though he was in love with Fu Yung, he wasn’t selfish and instead, put his feelings aside to help her and Kwong. If he was as jealous and sly as Ah Ying, the series would be much too complicated – so it was a nice change to see such a selfless and honest character.
The rest of the cast were brilliant as well and all played their parts so naturally and in such a believable way.
Extra information:
* The Chinese principle of Yin and Yang is frequently referred to throughout the series. It is used to describe the human and ghost world. Yin energy is associated with passiveness, femininity and yielding therefore, the spirit world whilst on the other hand, Yang is associated with strength, masculinity and brightness – the human world.
* If you’re interested in the 20s', 30's and 40's decades like me, this series will give you a lot of insight into the times, clothes and music of Hong Kong in those days. Because Siu Fu Yung is a ‘song-girl’, many old songs are featured here such as “月圆花好” and the haunting “等著你回來/ Dang Zhe Ni Hui Lai”.
* As you may or may not notice, the business name “Kwong Cheong Lung” is made up by joining the names of the 3 Luk brothers, respectively, Luk Man Kwong, Luk Man Cheong and Luk Man Lung.
Favourite Scenes:
1) I really love the cute scenes between Luk Man Kwong and Siu Fu Yung in their previous lives. Fu Yung’s shyness towards Man Kwong in the beginning was adorable and funny. I also love the way he played on her shyness. One flashback I love to rewind is the gazebo scene where Mr. Romantic, Luk Man Kwong, explains the Chinese poem on the umbrella to Siu Fu Yung. This is probably the most romantic scene in the whole series.
2) My favourite scene is probably the one where Fu Yung finds out about Man Kwong’s poor condition in Guangzhou where he had no choice but to work as a rickshaw puller. Gordon Lam’s crying in that scene was perfect and you could actually see his tears slowly well up. Just like Man Kwong did for her, it was Siu Fu Yung’s turn to help him gain back his confidence and renew himself. This might sound corny, but I was just in awe of how devoted they were to each other.
3) Of course another favourite is the part where Dai Kwong played the piano as memories of his past life flashed before him. It was so emotional when he started retelling Fu Yung things about their past, such as “This was where I first saw you” and “The purse I picked up from you had gold seams”.
4) The time when Fu Yung possessed the body of Dai Kwong’s uncle was hilarious, especially the reactions of people when they saw the two men holding hands etc.
5) The final scene where Man Kwong and Fu Yung meet each other again in their new lives. It was a really funny change to see Kwong to be the one trying to court her while Fu Yung was playing hard-to-get! The series ends with just enough evidence to show us that these two will finally be together as a couple again.
6) When Dai Kwong was accused of sleeping with Ah Ying. His reactions were so perfectly and realistically done! He looked so freaked out and just hysterically scared.
You will enjoy this series immensely. The deep-felt romance, hilarious comedy, as well as the enticing information about ghosts and their world make ‘Time Before Time’ my favourite series of them all – one that TVB has got to be proud of. I mean, it’s not one of TVB’s most successful series of all time for nothing!
