Date Aired: 3.06.1989
No. of Episodes: 20

Adam Cheng Siu Chau
Leung Ka Yan
Shallin Tse Ling
Sheren Tang Shui Man
Eddie Kwan Lai Kit
Wong Yee Gum
Lau Kong
Yeung Jak Lam
Lee Kwok Len
Lok Ying Kwan
Amy Wu Mei Yee
Lau Siu Ming

Making it as BRIEF as possible...

The Song Dynasty, established by Zhao Kuangyin, lasted from the years 960 to 1279. From the beginning years until 1127, the nation was called the Northern Song. The continuous attacks from the neighboring nations Liao (Qidan, ruled by the Yelus) and the newly risen power Jin (ruled by the Wanyans) weakened the Northern Song until it was finally brought down by Jin in 1127. The Song Emperors Huizong & Qinzong were captured and dragged to Jin, officially calling the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. Prior to this in 1125, Jin also took Liao's emperor prisoner, causing the fall of Liao as well.

Emperor Qinzong's younger brother, Zhao Gou, claimed the throne in the same year the Northern Song was demolished. Zhao Gou, entitled Emperor Gaozong, settled the capital in Lin An and this dynasty became known as the Southern Song. For a time being, the Song army was in favor of resistance and Jin's several attacks failed to conquer the nation. The most notable fighter during this era was General Yue Fei, who went on a spree of reclaiming many of the lost territories. But when the Song army was at its peak winning the battle with Jin, Emperor Gaozong and his powerful official Qin Hui began to fear that Yue Fei might pose a threat to their rule. Therefore, the emperor ordered Yue Fei to retrieve his troops. Despite many oppositions, the emperor pursued peace with Jin, which in turn led to signing a humiliating treaty. Qin Hui successfully framed Yue Fei for the conspiracy of overturning the nation, so Yue Fei was executed.

Whew I managed to do it in 2 paragraphs! I hate history *grumble grumble*

The main body of the series 'Kuet Jin Wong Shing' is the rescue of the two former Song emperors, Huizong & Qinzong. The first half of the series pays extensive attention to Yue Fei and people trying to save him from being executed. The remaining half takes place in the Jin Dynasty more or less, which I find to be the better half of this series for the sake of entertainment.

Koo Han Sing

By: Adam Cheng Siu Chau

Age: Should be in his 20's, although Adam was in his 40's at the time this series was made.

The main character (obviously), the little master of his honorable household Bak Wan Cheung. Portrayed to be a well-rounded guy; charming, handsome, high kung fu skills, intelligent, romantic, you name it.

Love interest: The Princess played by Tse Ling

Personality: Heroic, holds high virtues, knows how to place patriotic matters before his personal life.

CC's opinion on this character: Too perfect for my liking. Eh.

Lau Chon Yeung (real name Lau Sun Chong)

By: Leung Ka Yan

Age: I guess in his late 20's. Again, LKY at the time was probably in his late 30's or early 40's.

The son of a Sung general labeled as a traitor of the nation. Forever seeking to avenge for his father's death caused by Koo Han Sing's father. High kung fu skills.

Love interest: Mun Suet Yee played by Wong Yee Gum

Personality: Very rash, very hateful, very motivated to kill Koo Han Sing's father but at times very (silently) thoughtful for the people he cares about.

CC's opinion on this character: Pitiful, very pitiful, but 95% of the time difficult to sympathize with. Not fair that he was the only one to get those shabby 'wanderer' costumes though.

Princess Chan Kong

By: Shallin Tse Ling

Age: Probably in her teens, as were the most young girls before marriage back in the ol' days.

The Emperor's younger sister. The miraculous survivor under Gum's attack when she was an infant, regarded as the country's heroine for this reason.

Love interest: Koo Han Sing, see above.

Personality: Determined and strong-willed. Would rather die than to be a burden on the person she loves. Willing to do anything for her country and Koo Han Sing.

CC's opinion on this character: The most exemplary and role-model-ish one in the entire series, but I personally don't like her selfless ways (I'm selfish haha).

Yuen On Siu Yuk (Lang Yuet)

By: Sheren Tang Sui Man

Age: Definitely gotta be the youngest one in this series, in her teens. Sheren looked and acted young too, good for her.

The one & only daughter of the powerful king of Gum, Yuen On Mo Chu, which makes her a princess of Gum as well. Goes on her adventure in the Sung Dynasty.

Love interest: Koo Han Sing

Personality: At first, spoiled like no other way, but matures overtime as she falls in love with Koo Han Sing. When she is forced back to her home, she sulks and is depressed for most of the time. Just like Chan Kong, willing to do anything for the one she loves.

CC's opinion on this character: Sheren is an actress I find almost impossible to hate, but I disliked her character very much. But she had her cute moments.

Mun Suet Yee

By: Wong Yee Gum

After losing her family, she was taken in by Koo Han Sing's father and grew up as his foster daughter.

Love interest: Lau Chon Yeung

Personality: Thoughtful, caring, & trustworthy like many characters WYG played before.

CC's opinion on this character: She died too early. Sadness.

Yuen On Mong Sung (real name Lau Sun Hiu)

By: Eddie Kwan Lai Kit

The foster son of Yuen On Mo Chu, the 'bravest' warrior of the Gum Dynasty. His name, "Mong Sung," means "to destroy the Sung Dynasty." He later discovers that he is actually a Han, the long lost younger brother of Lau Chon Yeung.

Love interest: Yuen On Siu Yuk

Personality: Loyal to the one he serves, brutal to the one he hates, sweet to the one he loves. Knows 'when' to give up on his hopeless love although he never did give up.

CC's opinion on this character: My ideal of humanistic imperfection.

The death of Lau Yuen finally approaches when he encounters his old buddy, Koo Tin Ching (Yeung Jak Lam) who is an all-around respected hero. Koo Tin Ching at first questions Lau Yuen as to why he opened the castle gate to let the Gum soldiers in. Not wanting to give a cowardly explanation, Lau Yuen does not answer Koo. This then leads to a duel and subsequently, Lau Yuen's death. Koo planned to kill Sun Chong too as Lau Yuen had left his will, but couldn't bring himself to kill the little boy. He leaves Sun Chong mourning and grinding for revenge as he picks up the little girl and scurries off.

Many many years later, we now see that little baby girl as the princess, Chan Kong (Tse Ling). She is the younger sister of the emperor (Lee Kwok Len). The emperor and his highest subject Chan Wui (Lok Ying Kwan) are no more than reluctant to bring 2 former emperors who are held hostages in the Gum. In many battlefields, a war whiz general named Ngok Fei (Lau Kong) is scaring the hell out of every living Gum soldier. Seeing that Ngok Fei is regarded as the national hero, the emperor and Chan Wui see him as a threat to their power. The emperor therefore summons Ngok Fei to the palace, which means to retrieve his soldiers for no further fights. The emperor is also afraid that the Gum will threaten to send his father & brother back, which means he'd have to give up his throne. So Ngok Fei is unjustly framed for conspiracy and is locked up in prison, facing many tortures to come.

The next 8 to 10 episodes have emphasis on 3 events; some loyal side characters such as Ngok Fei's foster son Ngok Lung trying to save him. Of course, Ngok Fei dies despite all those touching attempts and sacrifices - otherwise the damn history would've changed and the Gums would've never taken over the Sung, right? ^^ So the story goes. Our hero Koo Han Sing (Adam) is the son of Koo Tin Ching. With his foster sister Mun Suet Yee (Wong Yee Gum), they live in a place called Bak Wan Cheung, the household that vowed to never take part in politics. But Koo Han Sing, being the righteous person, gets himself involved in the 'saving Ngok Fei campaign' and exposes his house to danger. At the same time, the emperor is extremely annoyed by his younger sister poking her head into his 'getting rid of Ngok Fei business.' So he comes up with a clever plan - of marrying off the Princess with Koo Han Sing so they'd shut up! Given that the Princess & Koo Han Sing had already met and fallen in love, this plan would've worked just fine... except there is one that'll overturn this, in the name of Yuen On Siu Yuk (Sheren).

Siu Yuk is a Gum princess on her journey to the big China. She settles at Koo Han Sing's house as his maid because she literally felt the love at first sight upon seeing him. When she hears the news that her dear will marry the Princess, she becomes furious and pulls strings to stop this. She even goes up to the Princess to check her out, only to realize what a fine lady the Princess is, both inside and outside. Feeling discouraged, Siu Yuk decides not to intervene anymore. Too late though, because when she gave her order to the emperor to stop the marriage, the emperor decided to send Koo Han Sing's father, Koo Tin Ching, to the Gum dynasty as a messenger which will put off the marriage for some time. Koo Tin Ching meets his death in Gum, inadvertently caused by a Gum general Yuen On Mong Sung (Eddie). Siu Yuk is then bothered by her foster brother Mong Sung to come back home. Under some dire circumstance, Koo Han Sing, the Princess, and Mun Suet Yee find out that Siu Yuk is actually a Gum Princess. Siu Yuk goes back home after saving Koo Han Sing's life.

The subplot of this series is the unresolved business between the son of Lau Yuen from the beginning, and Koo Tin Ching. Sun Chong, as he grows up, changes his name to Lau Chon Yeung (Leung Ka Yan) and learns enough kung fu to challenge Koo Tin Ching. This story should really take place before the whole Siu Yuk - Koo Han Sing deal, my apologies for being out of sequence. Lau Chon Yeung comes to Koo Tin Ching to challenge him to a duel and fights with Koo Han Sing too. He then discovers that Koo Han Sing is set to marry the Princess, who is his long-lost-sister-alike. But no, he would never give up on his revenge for his father. But no, he has to give up because after Koo Tin Ching goes to Gum, only his corpse is returned. But no, now Lau Chon Yeung will take his revenge on his son Koo Han Sing. Lau Chon Yeung is saved by Koo Han Sing and Mun Suet Yee a few times so he can't go on his vengeance trip right away, but he'd still come back and settle this matter later.

The transition : after the general Ngok Fei is executed, Koo Han Sing becomes upset and tries to kill Chan Wui, but ends up almost killing the emperor instead. This incurs the emperor's wrath like a fire-spitting dragon and he is immediately imprisoned. After overcoming several of Chan Wui's attempts to get him murdered, Koo Han Sing is ordered to go to the Gum Dynasty to bring the former emperors (one is dead, the other is still alive) back. Chan Wui sends 2 monks who are up to no good, with Koo Han Sing to make sure that he is killed. Those 2 monks are actually the decendants of the fallen Yiu Dynasty and they want to seek revenge and rebuild their country by making Gum & Sung fight. Their former king is held hostage at Gum. On their way to Gum, Koo Han Sing meets a lady in a red dress (Ho Mei Yee) who eventually falls in love with him (blaahh) and proposes to him, which he refuses. Then he goes on.

While Koo Han Sing is away, Mun Suet Yee helps Lau Chon Yeung to open up his heart, which succeeds. Expectantly they are attracted to each other. But since Koo Han Sing is not around, this makes it easier for Chan Wui to get rid of Koo Han Sing's close ones such as the Princess and Mun Suet Yee. In turn, Mun Suet Yee is killed while trying to rescue Lau Chon Yeung and the Princess when they are put in danger. Lau Chon Yeung is determined to take the Princess to Gum where Koo Han Sing is.

The 2nd half of the series takes place in Gum because that's where everyone's at. Now Mong Sung and Siu Yuk are put on spotlight. =D Now you know why I rented this series to begin with. Mong Sung is the foster son and the right-hand man of the Gum king, Yuen On Mo Chu. He loves Siu Yuk very much ever since he was little and is willing to do anything for her. But Siu Yuk still yearns for Koo Han Sing and to make matters worse, Koo Han Sing arrives to Gum. Mong Sung fights with Koo Han Sing openly to win Siu Yuk's heart but fails. He also watches over Koo Han Sing and his crew so they don't plan anything about rescuing the former Sung emperor held as the Gum hostage. But Koo Han Sing manages to fool everyone and safely takes the emperor in his hands but just when he's about to leave Gum, Mong Sung discovers a note left by 2 monks that were with Koo Han Sing. So Koo Han Sing gets caught by Mong Sung and is put to jail. Fearing for his safety, Siu Yuk insists that he marries her, much to her father's opposition and the heartbreak of Mong Sung. By this time, Koo Han Sing somehow heard the news that the Princess Chan Kong was dead (although she's really on her way to see him). So he marries Siu Yuk but not long after, the Princess and Lau Chon Yeung appear. Seeing that Koo Han Sing married Siu Yuk and feeling a bit of sympathy for Siu Yuk, the Princess steps back and fakes her death so Koo Han Sing would give up on her. But this makes Koo Han Sing miss her even more as he neglects Siu Yuk and lives in misery.

Lau Chon Yeung coincidentally comes across Mong Sung's nanny, the person who raised him. He then discovers that Mong Sung is actually his long-lost younger brother! This would make Mong Sung a Han, and when Mong Sung hears this from Lau Chon Yeung, he strongly denies at first. But not too long after, he acknowledges Lau Chon Yeung as his older brother and also his heritage. Lau Chon Yeung urges Mong Sung to leave Gum with him, but Mong Sung declines because he can't betray his foster father and leave Siu Yuk alone. Later he is confronted by his foster father about his Han heritage. Just when he is not being trusted by his foster father anymore, he collaborates with Siu Yuk and unveils the conspiracy of the 2 monks and their old king that sought to restore their Yiu nation. The Yiu king is hence executed but the 2 monks manage to escape. Mong Sung's foster father tells him that it doesn't matter who he is and he can stay in Gum.

Koo Han Sing desperately wants to take the emperor back to Sung so with the help of Siu Yuk, he escapes successfully with the emperor. Unfortunately, Mong Sung accidentally injures Siu Yuk thinking that she is a hitman, which eventually leads to her death. Siu Yuk dies in Koo Han Sing's arms. Mong Sung, unable to overcome the guilt and sadness, decides to give up everything he has and live as a Han with his brother. Mong Sung is later murdered by the Yiu monk. Koo Han Sing, upon stepping into the Sung territory, is greeted by hitmen that attempt to kill him. They make him go blind and capture the emperor. The emperor is then brought to the 'current' emperor who tries to kill him. Koo Han Sing is rescued by an old monk who is living with Princess Chan Kong, much to his happiness. To help Koo Han Sing be able to fight again, the Princess gladly gives up her pair of eyes. But on the day he recovers his eyesight, he is attacked by one of the 2 monks. The monk holds the Princess as a hostage and not wanting to be a burden, she commits suicide.

In the end, Koo Han Sing & Lau Chon Yeung invade the palace and kill the monk. Koo Han Sing also is about to kill the emperor but is stopped by a general of his acquaintance. He decides to let the emperor go upon the promise that he'd be a good ruler from now on. The general takes Koo Han Sing to some fishing village afterwards and they both find the 'former' emperor who was thought to be dead living as a fisherman, not wanting to be involved in any of the power fights.

The only thing left is the battle between Koo Han Sing & Lau Chon Yeung, the inevitability. The series ends with them engaging in a duel, not showing who won or lost.

I have never been an avid viewer of Adam Cheng's series, although he may be unanimously regarded as THE best actor. I rented this series out of boredom... and Eddie Kwan. When I saw that Eddie's name wasn't even printed on the cover, I assumed that his screen time would be short so I didn't anticipate much from this series.

Turned out way better than I thought, glad to say.

Looking at the plot as a whole, 'Kuet Jin Wong Shing' doesn't evolve around martial arts or one striving to become a hero. Rather, it's about the life of an already established hero further extending his patriotism during a historically chaotic time period. The only martial arts involved in this series is to emphasize the relationship between Adam Cheng & Leung Ka Yan, and to kick the soldiers' booties, Gum and Sung alike. The series still exhibits the most constitutional element of a typical ancient series (or any series for that matter), called love. Love polygons to be more specific, marred by one extremely galling character that I'm about to rant about below. The bottom line - with everything I mentioned here, this series should theoretically be nothing intriguing. But what made it exceed my expectation? (It probably helped that I didn't have that high of an expectation to begin with, but I'll set that aside for now ^^).

The typicality acted as a charm here. The best thing about this series was that it had a proper mix of history, heroic deeds, romance, action, and drama all packed into 20 short episodes, performed by a commendable cast. The story isn't bulky in just one area, it has different event sequences from various genres, which kept me from being bored throughout the series. Perhaps some of the sections could've been more fully developed if the series was longer but other than that, this series is suitable for the ones that like a dubious cross between history & a biography of an imaginary character.

So this left me to like Eddie the most, out of all the main characters. Though a typically arrogant Gum general at first, Eddie turned out to be a very compassionate person as the 2nd half of the series progressed. This was evident especially in his actions towards Sheren and his nanny, and later his brother. I appreciated the fact that he stayed loyal to his foster father without denying his heritage either. I wish he hadn't died but in a way, I was glad that he did die because death might've been better for him than having to live on with the guilt of killing the person he loved the most.

CC hated - Adam's dad. In this series, all villains like Lee Kwok Len & Lok Ying Kwan are so villain-like that there is not much to hate about them. Rather, I really hated Adam's dad because he was known to be this bigshot hero but thanks to his 'heroic' judgment that every other small-minded people had, he caused Leung Ka Yan's character to live in a turmoil. LKY's dad should not have been killed (whether accidental or not, it still happened during their duel) and Adam's dad was in no position to 'execute' the guy just because he was the lover of his country. He was the one that considered himself to be righteous and justice-guarding when he couldn't even determine the truth. Watching him talk was a pure torture for me and I was so happy when he died. =_=

About Lee Kwok Len - My mom saw this series many many years ago and she didn't remember much about this series. She ADORES Eddie Kwan and she didn't even remember that he was in this series! However, she remembered one person from this series and that was Lee Kwok Len who played the greedy emperor. She hated him very much and apparently that's why he stuck out the most...

CC's most favorite pair - It could've been Wong Yee Gum & Leung Ka Yan but before anything major could develop between the two, the poor gal was killed off. =/ I thought Adam & Tse Ling pair was the most 'ideal,' despite the complete lack of their chemistry. Their personalities complemented each other - Adam, with patriotic outlooks on life, could give Tse Ling the sense of security that she wanted as a princess of one nation during a politically disruptive time; Tse Ling, with her delicacy and dedication, could support Adam's heroic deeds and ideals.

I also wanted to see Sheren pair up with Eddie but that never occurred. They would've made the most compatible couple because their characteristics when it came to love were very similar. They both blindly loved the ones that would never love them back, so they knew what the pain was like. What better reason for them to pair up than this, understanding each other's emotional affliction? But then again, same ends of magnets do not attract. If only I could change that...

CC's least favorite pair - Sheren & Adam. This couple was the product of Sheren's selfish selflessness. Sounds oxymoron doesn't it? Sheren's marriage proposal to Adam happened with a reason of 'protecting' him, but first of all, she didn't do this entirely for Adam. She did it for herself as well because she liked him also. This is all fine, but when Tse Ling came to Gum after going through hell just to see Adam, her greed chased away Tse Ling, who of all people deserved Adam the most. She always said she was willing to do ANYTHING for Adam, but for that 'anything,' she used her judgments for what would be good for him, which didn't always correspond with his best interest. This might've been pure love on her part but to me, it seemed more like an obsession - of Sheren clinging onto Adam at any cost. This was what distinguished her from Eddie's love for her - Eddie never gave up on her but let her go at her request, which was a very noble thing to do.

So this is my official rant about Sheren's character that I found really cute at first. I know that the multi-love story does not work with a 3rd or 4th or 100th person involved and in this case, Sheren was the intruder. Not only that, her 'selfless' decisions made for Adam caused her to be 'selfish' around those that truly cared about her, like her dad and Eddie. At least Adam was actually worthy of such devotion. And he never led her on or showed signs of possibly loving her back, instead of those indecisive male characters in multiple relationships that are common in other series.

Another thing I disliked about Sheren was that when Eddie was going to leave so he wouldn't have to see her anymore, she held him back. This gave him hope, but later when he asked her why she had asked him to stay, her reply was "I didn't want you to leave just because of me." What kind of a bullshit answer was that?! And she told him that "Love isn't something that can be forced onto someone else," yet she never applied that same logic for herself and Adam. She was one maddening character that really irritated me.

CC pitied - I WOULD'VE pitied Eddie Kwan during his drama stage where he was told that he was not a Gum but a Han. That was the moment of his life that he knew and lived all along falling down at once. If he had been like Yeung Hong in "Legend of the Condor Heroes" and was pressured by his surroundings, was confused, and later fell into a total denial of what he was, then I would've pitied him. But he was logical about what he wanted, that he wanted to stay in Gum not because of power but because of Sheren and his foster father. This blew away my reason to pity him, there is no reason to pity a character who does the right thing now is there.

I WOULD'VE pitied Leung Ka Yan but the things he did were so outrageously stupid at times, like killing a good governor based on only what he heard. Maybe it was the result of his reclusive life that molded his character into the way he was but.. dude.. hard to like someone who only believes what he sees and hears.

I have some pity for Adam because the series moved towards his favor until KABOOM! He just lost everything. But then again, that's life - you lose some, you win some. No one could've possibly lost as much as LKY did in his entire life so compared to him, Adam I'd say had a smooth sail in his life.

CC's favorite scene - When Sheren & Eddie were hunting, Sheren lost her precious golden arrow and Eddie jumped off a cliff to reclaim it, got hurt, and then he told her "I can do anything for you." Extremely cliche yet touching. T_T

CC's favorite line - Before Sheren died of over-bleeding due to Eddie's attack, she gave Adam the toy (or whatever it was) that Eddie had given her and told Adam, "Give this back to Sung-goh and tell him not to feel guilty." Well, that never happened, Eddie did feel guilty and eventually left everything to start over but this was the only consideration Sheren showed Eddie in the entire series so yeah, I liked this line.

Character comparison - Bing Kuen vs. Kuet Jin Wong Shing. It's not hard to spot that Eddie Kwan's character in both series are almost identical in the first half of the series. In Bing Kuen, he is the general of Yiu and the closest subject of a Yiu king. In KJWS, he is the general of Gum and the closest subject of a Gum king. In BK, he likes the king's daughter, Maggie Siu. In KJWS, he likes the king's daughter, Sheren Tang. In BK, he is wanting to get rid of Lau Ka Fai because Maggie likes him. In KJWS, he is wanting to get rid of Adam because Sheren likes him. Boy isn't it easy!

Of course, as both series progress, Eddie in BK reveals to be a true jerk and a true villain, as opposed to Eddie in KJWS becoming less of what he was in the beginning and more of a kind-hearted guy. Naturally I prefer his role in KJWS over the other.

Can't leave out that in Bing Kuen, Eddie meets a pitiful death by Leon Lai. In KJWS, Eddie meets a pitiful death by a Yiu monk.

Ending - Totally reminded me of "The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain," the final scene with Patrick Tse Yin & Ray Lui. But it was the only appropriate ending for this series because if either Adam or LKY won the duel, that would've just SUCKED.

Related series CC recommends - "The Swordsman Lai Bo Yee" with Patrick Tam, Noel Leung, Timmy Ho & Elizabeth Lee. Well, so not directly related but it still talks about the same historical period. In this series, the roles are kind of switched and the Princess (Elizabeth) is obsessed over Patrick, while the Gum princess (Lam Kei Yan) is devoted to Patrick, while the ultimate dedication to Patrick is made by our sweet Noel. Watched it, liked it because of Timmy, he's really cute in this series. =D

established on 4-12-2001
written & scanned by Clair

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