Happy 2013

January 1, 2013 at 0:13


Fans posted this old photo of Idy Chan’s taken back in 2010 on one of her charity missions, and Damian Lau re-posted the photo to many other cast mates in “Silver Spoon, Sterling Shackles” 《名媛望族》 and they too re-posted Damian’s messages.

Here are some captures of weibo posts regarding Idy:
Sources: Oriental /



24 Comments

  1. #
    JingMui
    January 1st, 2013 at 5:21 AM

    haha looks like not only have us fans been poisoned by Idy 🙂 Even Damian and the cast of SSSS. I hope they’d have a gathering again soon!! All these SSSS fanfics on baidu is making me very addicted to Arthur & Yee Yin XD

    btw I watched Catch Me Now! Idy’s quite cute and can handle comedy well! It’s a complete opposite from Yee Yin and I was surprised she actually fitted the “naive-like housewife” role as Yung Yung. Too bad her voice was fluctuated a lot during the drama but I remember it had to do with an infection or something?

    Hope to see her back in action soon!

    Happy New Year!

    • #
      sakura
      January 1st, 2013 at 12:15 PM

      Looks like you’re having Arthur&Yee-Yin withdrawal… by catching up on Catch Me Now so fast. Too bad, 2 times in the row, their characters didn’t really give the audience “satisfactory” endings. Luckily that you understand those wonderful fanfics at Baidu. I read a couple but it’s getting too much for me, esp. when I have to convert into Traditional forms, and then translate into English. I can’t recognize simplified.

      Yes – in CMN Idy lost her voice and had to do self voice-over after filming. Must be the stress after many years absent from the industry. But she really did have the humor side as a clumsy, naive “see-lai”. It’d be a dream come true for us fans if she films a comedy.

      Let’s hope for a Great new year! (though, this site is probably to be quiet down in next few months or even in 2013… oh well.. we’ll see…)

      • #
        JingMui
        January 2nd, 2013 at 11:18 AM

        Yes! I didn’t like that although they tried to give us an alternate ending for CMN 🙁

        I dont exactly understand all of the stories since my chinese isn’t that great but I can understand context of what is going on.

        I think I’m having an Idy withdrawal … I watched so many of her past movies last night! From her movie with Bowie Lam, to her special guest for Thieves of Times, to her guest star in the movie with Anita Mui & Andy Lau, then happening to catch her guest starring really quickly for Carina Lau’s movie and lastly being horrified by Siamese Twins. I am thinking of watching Casino Raiders now too (although she seems to be paired with Alan Tam in the trailer 🙁 )

        Hope Idy will come back soon although her main purpose of filming SSSS was for her charity work. With SSSS being most successful for Idy (this HAS to be true since I don’t think any other artiste in this drama other than perhaps also Mary Hon .. had such a big splurge in popularity!!) I think Idy’s face is well recognized even more so around the world!

      • #
        sakura
        January 3rd, 2013 at 9:59 AM

        It’s so major cool that you’re having Idy Chan withdrawal after SSSS, and how brave of you to watch the young & daring Idy in Siamese Twins 😛 Casino Raiders is good one, I feel that Andy’s role in CR was parallel to his real person back then towards Idy. There’s also The Crazy Companies in which you can see some fun moments between them. Stage Door Johnny is also recommended. Then again, she’s been more popular with her TV work than films. Have you seen The Upheaval?

      • #
        JingMui
        January 3rd, 2013 at 10:13 AM

        Siamese Twins …I think I was more scared about expecting when the twin sister who pop out. I hate that part the most about scary movies, it’s just not knowing when they show up. But the actual sister ghost / demon (at the end of the movie I wasn’t sure what the sister was) isn’t scary. I think I remember reading somewhere that Andy admitted that during Casino Raiders he really did feel like it was a parallel.

        I haven’t picked up on dramas, the reason being is with movies I don’t mind going through a maximum 2 hour movie. But with dramas, that’s 30/40 episodes perhaps. I’ll wait till someone posts cut-outs of Idy scenes 🙂 I’m checking out Upheaval now, looks like someone did post some cut outs 🙂 Shall check it out.

        I’m currently having a holy moment watching Idy on Andy’s Unforgettable concert! These two are like angel couples (although not real 🙁 ) that never really aged. They still have that very angelic presence to them. Andy is ridiculously manly. Idy has an immense amount of elegant aura. + their attires in those photos with a dark background. Seems so dreamy… haha!

        What has been your favourite Idy performance (movie/tv) ?

  2. #
    JingMui
    January 3rd, 2013 at 4:12 PM

    i just finished The Upheaval! Yip Ling’s character is so sad, I cried twice when she revealed her true self to Yik Lun even though I wouldn’t like to have Yip Ling as a sister (haha she likes to control a lot). However as a viewer, I like her strength, calmness and collective. At the same time, love her scenes when she and Yik Lun are together as a couple. So sweet!! And their ending, so romantic and sad.

    Now that I look at this, was No Regrets based on this? Or the same writer at least? I see aspects that are very similar.

    • #
      sakura
      January 3rd, 2013 at 10:03 PM

      Tough question on my most favorite Idy’s work 😉 The Grand Canal is my pick, even though it’s not the drama that introduced her to me. The story is dynamic, strong, and most characters are well developed. TVB did go out of their way to produce such a high budget in the 80s. I still can feel the great chemistry between Idy and Tony regardless of most others think otherwise.

      Most of us didn’t expect that Idy would come back to HK in time to be at Andy’s concert, but it happened and it’s just so surreal for all of us. What you described of their stage presence is totally opposite of someone commented on one of the videos as if they were computerized holograms.. Geeze!

      OMG! Just less than half a day since my previous comment and you already finished The Upheaval with Idy’s cutouts! You must be a night owl! I’m glad that SSSS was showing during the least busy time of the year for me, or else I could crash so easy without not having my 5 hours (at least) of sleep a day.

      I haven’t seen No Regrets, but just reading reviews and watching teasers, it’s possible for the similarities. Can’t believe that Wayne has risen from a small role in The Upheaval to a leading man in No Regrets.

      • #
        JingMui
        January 4th, 2013 at 12:31 AM

        Hehe well the difference is that I’m on break 😛

        Oh my it really is Wayne?! It’s the role of Ah Sing right? I had a hard time deciding if it was because Wayne’s voice has changed so much since the Upheaval. Meanwhile Idy, Kathy, Ray Lui & Kenneth Tsang pretty much maintained the same voice today. So I wasn’t sure exactly XD

        Ohs! I saw a small segment of her and Tony in the drama before, I think on youtube? I’d watch it but I recall it is a very long drama & lots of cast?

        LOL maybe that person on youtube only watched one version? I remember watching a version where the video recorded was recording it off these long screens that were previously used as backgrounds for the martial arts segment right before their entrance. So it probably looked too fake to be real (added with the lines going through the screen.) But actually before watching SSSS, I already saw the performance before and had already felt Idy’s very special presence with Andy. However at that time I only had seen the talking parts where Idy talked about her volunteer work. It wasn’t until I was surfing on your site did I see the parts of their grand entrance.

        To be honest, I feel that song Ching Yee Leung Sum Kwan (I think that’s the title, the one they play for Condor Heroes or Idy introductions) gives me goosebumps. My chinese isn’t that great so I don’t entirely understand the lyrics, nor did I entirely watch Condor Heroes — I only know the story of the couple (I never really watched dramas before my time)… I feel like its a very eternal love song. And the fact that its become such a trademark song for Andy & Idy, seeing the song used for the drama and hearing the song again for these two so many years later — just really had this timeless effect. AND IDY & ANDY’s hug!!! It felt like: long lost lovers (although I know they are friends only) reuniting…but hehe I saw two photos of the hug. One was Idy’s view and one was Andy’s. It felt very heart warming just to see them onstage.

        Have you met Idy in real life? What role do you think best reflects her true personality? Haha hope you don’t mind the sudden question but I always thought of it when I was watching. I haven’t been able to pin point out whether I am admiring Idy for Idy now or if I’m admiring her for Yee Yin. Its hard for me since Idy hasn’t been active in the entertainment circle for a long time so I don’t really get a chance to read about her as an off screen person. Meanwhile reading the way people who have met her or worked with her, she really does seem like she has that holy -ness to her. I feel TV dramas or movies make it misleading for fans sometimes to expect idols to be the exact same as their roles. I just wanted to know more of what she is like. 🙂

      • #
        sakura
        January 4th, 2013 at 11:01 AM

        Can’t tell if you’re already working or still a student, but it’s always good to be on break 😀 Especially when you seem to spend the time on getting to know Idy/Yee Yin by watching her TVs and movies.

        I don’t remember the name of Wayne’s character in The Upheaval, but hope this capture (which i posted on my weibo) would help you to recognize him http://ww3.sinaimg.cn/large/6709c9f7jw1dxzb95n2ilj.jpg

        Yes – The Grand Canal has a whopping of 60 episodes. So it’d take a while to download if you know the links. It’s the 20th Anniversary drama.

        Too bad the official DVDs of Andy Unforgettable didn’t have Idy’s segment included or else we could have seen more clips with better quality on Youtube already. Sigh!

        Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to meet Idy in person 🙁 Though, I keep my faith and dream alive that some day I’ll get to meet her in person, whenever and wherever! Wish me luck! I visited HK twice in the past 5 years, but neither time had the chance or knew anyone that could help me to get in contact with her. Also, there’s some language barrier between me and fans at Baidu (JC, Huyi…)

        For me, her role in Love Me, Love Me Not is not only reflecting her true person, but also her life.

      • #
        JingMui
        January 4th, 2013 at 11:34 AM

        oh you do have weibo!!! Haha If you can play on weibo, your chinese should be okay too no? Does HC/ Hui Yi not speak chinese / english?? I generally use my translated english from english to chinese on google translate to talk with other nancy fans on baidu XD. They find my chinese weird though haha~!

        yes it is him!! And such a lovely picture of Idy!! After watching the Upheaval I keep having that background “lalala” song in my mind. Its hilarious slightly because for many of the scenes where Yip Ling is trashing other places etc, they play that song…which is kind of weird but really catchy.

        I think my main issue with dramas like Grand Canal also is the screen time problem. Not fond of watching dramas where Idy isn’t the lead (I watched Crazy Companies…the role as Joanne was so small 🙁 ) And while Idy’s role was really cool in Stage Door Johnny, I had no idea why the screen time was focused on some of the other actresses. Then again, other than knowing Idy Chan & Kara Hui … I didn’t know anyone else in the movie. ALSO … is it just me or do a lot of these movies or dramas Idy is in, Idy’s romantic storylines are really sad? Other than Return of Condor Heroes (which I managed to go sneak into to see how they end but because it was in mandarin, I had no idea what was going on) everything else ended sadly. SSSS: divorce. CMN: widow. Casino Raiders: I’m assuming she left him in the end. SD Johnny: Potential mate dies in a shooting. Can’t Stop Loving You: husband is an awful gambling addict etc. Beats her & puts her through so much. Both dies. Kawashima Yoshiko : husband is an emperor that wouldn’t let her go. A Warrior’s Tragedy: not a fan of Dik Lung, but her role dies before being together. Crazy Companies: single after realizing Andy was lying. Siamese Twins: again, killed by own boyfriend. The Upheaval: they only gave me 5 episodes of them being a couple and I’m assuming they didn’t survive the bombing 🙁 Too sad!! So pitiful!!!

        Love Me, Love Me Not hopefully will be better…

        Hehe the great thing about being on break, is you don’t have to let the rational side of your brain tell you to do something more important. Haha Day 04 of my Idy -marathon 🙂 My TV marathon only happens at night, when I’m too lazy to be out in the cold! 🙂

      • #
        sakura
        January 4th, 2013 at 9:57 PM

        Yes – I’ve been on weibo for almost 3 years now! Argh.. how time flies! My trick of browsing Chinese sites is mousing over the links to see the URLs. Most of time, the URLs could really tell more about the links because I can guess where to go. For example, for profile setting, the URL has something like “profile”, etc. Also, I use Weibo app on iPhone and it’s been available in English since last year… and does this look familiar to you? 😉 http://icif.chanyuklinonline.com/IMG_1780.PNG

        Most fans at Baidu are in China, so they don’t speak English 🙁 and I can’t converse in Cantonese nor Mandarin 🙁 or else I could have called them already… oh well…

        As for The Grand Canal, you can have a crash-watch here http://chanyuklinonline.com/tv_gc.htm

        Have fun!

  3. #
    JingMui
    January 5th, 2013 at 1:45 AM

    Just finished the grand canal selected clips!!! Princess 5 & Tony are cute but painful to watch if I were to watch the entire drama. There ups and downs in the relationship would have drained me since they seem to have so much misunderstandings and family background issues. But their relationships seems like one I would have rooted for since they both seem to sacrifice for each other a lot.

    Ohs did you get my weibo messages?!! Please tell me I got the right person…or it’d be ridiculously embarrassing!!

    Oh well if you meant by calling them, then perhaps yes. I have faith you will see Idy eventually. She must be going to HK eventually if she said it would be okay to send her gifts to TVB. Perhaps an upcoming drama or event she will be attending? Does she have any annual HK event that she attends?

    • #
      sakura
      January 5th, 2013 at 3:20 AM

      That’s why I show you the selected clips… but if you’re really into the drama, it’s a really good one to follow.

      I didn’t get any messages from you, but I’m sending you one now…………

      Haha.. perhaps one of these days (after I practice a few phrases of Mandarin) I would call them and ask for Idy 🙂 This reminds me of a friend, he insisted that I must speak Mandarin with him, and even left voice messages in Mandarin for me (normally, we’d speak English only). Luckily, I understood his messages and when I tried to tell him back.. in Mandarin, he got frustrated and we ended up speaking English only. This bad experience haunted me

      Yes – she’s back and forth between HK and Guangzhou I believe. But it seems that she has a permanent place in Guangzhou and a rented place in HK. Her annual HK events are often low key and not reported in the news. Around March, she might meet up with EYT cast for small gathering. Also, she asks for fans’ contact info so in case if she’s in any city (especially in China), she would tell them to come out to meet up with her… I can’t think any reason she will come to the States. Perhaps, I should ask fans at Baibu if I do can WhatsApp messaging with her? argh… I’m day dreaming….

      • #
        JingMui
        January 5th, 2013 at 3:30 AM

        I made a comment … but never mind! Now we finally found each other (or well now I realize you already added me all along)

        Oh mandarin? that’s hard….I can only do cantonese. My mandarin makes people want me to shut up hahaha. Oh call and ask for her? Are they her personal assistants or something?

        Ohs cool I’ve been to HK & Guangzhou before! Haha I shall try my luck next time I visit…which is ….unknown when that’d happen again. I heard Damian found her in British Columbia, Canada….I wonder if Idy will come to Canada again. From reading the fans experience, she sounds like a really adorable person!! Really sweet of her too, to offer that chance to meet her fans wherever she goes!

        I day dream a lot too….for everything.

        I’ve been shot by Idy poison …..

  4. #
    Emmy
    January 5th, 2013 at 3:08 AM

    Hello both sisters. I just had time to read ALL your posts about Idy.

    JingMui, Welcome to Idy’s addict fans club. You beat all of us by watching Upheaval overnight.

    My best and the most remembrance character of Idy was Princess 5 of The Grand Canal…..love love Idy and Tony as couple and happy of their ending.

    My second favorite character was Yip ling of the Upheaval. I am never tired of re-watch both of her drama whenever I have time.

    Your review was correct about the feeling I had when during the time of watching the GC

    • #
      JingMui
      January 5th, 2013 at 3:22 AM

      Hi Emmy!! Haha thanks for the welcome!! I think it’s because I found the Idy Cuts version posted by Sakura (I assume because the website was on the video). I didn’t watch the entire Upheaval drama I don’t think. But given that Idy was lead and everything related to Yip Ling — it does seem like watching all of it 🙂

      I think to date I still like Yip Ling over Princess 5 (probably because I’m only watching selected segments & I have no idea about the story). I guess I have to really get the chance to watch the entire drama 🙂

      Did you watch Love Me, Love Me Not?

      btw do you have weibo as well??

  5. #
    Emmy
    January 5th, 2013 at 11:31 AM

    hahaha….I watched everything of her long time ago.

    I addict to her just like Sakura.

  6. #
    Emmy
    January 5th, 2013 at 11:43 AM

    Princess 5 is my BEST favorite character of Costume Drama and Yip Lin is be Best selection character of regular drama. Both of characters were strong and truly reflect opposite side of Idy. Both broke my heart and made me cry.

  7. #
    JingMui
    January 11th, 2013 at 12:18 AM

    yesterday’s light …the one with her and adam was very meaningful. i kind of suspected there was something wrong with him but I didn’t expect it to have that type of twist in the end. Its a reflection of society through a romance film. Another movie where she leads that left me in awe. The other one was “L’air de temps”. Not sure if that’s the movie title but it was the name of the perfume. Both leave the viewers reflecting about society, but two very different roles.

    • #
      sakura
      January 11th, 2013 at 11:22 AM

      Oh my! you even able to see these rare movies. I remember when I first saw Last Night’s Light, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for so long, and have watched again many times since. For “L’air de Temps”, was it about she’s looking for the father of her child, and 3 men showed up for her ad. I don’t remember much.. since I watched it once. Perhaps, one of these days I have to watch it again. Idy’s quite versatile since early days of her acting career. Esp. with the one with Adam, she was younger than most of leading ladies in Qiongyao movies back then. Though, I’m really not into QY stories, her stories often have a character who is either disabled or insane.

      • #
        JingMui
        January 11th, 2013 at 1:23 PM

        Yup that one! I feel like the three movies I’ve seen her lead in: Last Night’s Light, L’air de Temps and Love Till Road Ends (with Bowie Lam) they seem to be focusing about romance but they have a very good message it tries to bring to the viewers. Last Night’s Light, discuss the topic about society’s view on mentally disabled individuals and how these members live in society. Ultimately, even though Idy’s role insisted on being with Adam till the end but he couldn’t accept that even his last bit of pride was inevitably revealed to others — resulted in his death.

        L’air de Temps comes off as those cute romance stories that hollywood films likely have had versions — trying to figure out who the father is : but then it reveals about how society has become more careless about relationships with one another and the fact that males are traditional and want a son etc. And whether or not it was really Idy seeking or Idy seeking on behalf of another — wasn’t known. All three men couldn’t possibly have remembered it being Idy but they clearly were captivated by Idy’s beauty and ultimately imagined it was her. However, it’d be hilarious if Idy was really the friend and the real woman they were with was someone less attractive. How many of these men would actually claim themselves to be the father?

        Love Till Road Ends: a very very pitiful love story but shows how difficult it is for those who once had everything drop to be worse than nothing. The changes in character of Bowie. Emphasized how it is possible for friendship to really embrace all the wrong doings of a person. However till the very end, Bowie’s gambling addiction, his desire to reclaim his once immense amount of fortune / business …pushed him to a dead end. His choice of dying is very realistic…because most people wouldn’t be able to take such hits. They wouldn’t be able to take pity from others etc. And while Idy’s role clearly had a choice of being with someone SO MUCH better, she reflects the blindness of love people have.

        Although I am unsure of how much say Idy has on picking movies she takes part in, back then but I remember one of Idy’s interview, she said she hopes viewers will take something away after watching her works….so I wonder if it’s just coincidence I watched some meaningful works or she really does only participate in stuff she thinks is worthy. I meant leading ones ..not guest starring.

      • #
        sakura
        January 18th, 2013 at 12:49 AM

        Good analyses on these movies – I believe Idy did have the liberty of picking which projects she’s in back then and it’s same for today. It’s so true that many of her work make the viewers still thinking about her characters after watching them an hour ago or even 20 years ago. Unfortunately, the endings for most these stories often don’t satisfy the audiences. Just like the latest SSSS, most are basically upset with Yee Yin’s ending, yet it gives them the option pondering into many possible scenarios after she left to England with her buddy. Though, somehow I just don’t experience the “withdrawal” after finishing SSSS just like I did with Catch Me Now 4 years ago. Perhaps, I was indeed expecting much more than I lead on. I really hate how the Chung family became all happy and harmonious like “The Brady Bunch”. Arthur didn’t crash and burn, Charles divorced so he could be a “good husband”, Jimmy wasn’t punished…

  8. #
    JingMui
    January 18th, 2013 at 7:54 AM

    Haha I agree, the endings are very unsatisfactory or even, I feel they make Idy’s roles end up single or really pitiful most of the time.

    SSSS was my first Idy drama. And while I became admiring of Idy from it, the drama itself had aspects that was just not my cup of tea. I had expectations of what I thought the story would be about and I after realizing where it was heading, I still felt certain aspect of it didn’t make sense to me. 1) I still don’t get why Hong Tze Kwan liked Cheuk Manh that much given her personality. And given her personality, I never really thought she would end up accepting him again. Her role had some much opportunities to grow with but I was disappointed how skewed it became upon being with Cheuk Man 2) The “redemption” aspects were missing. Johnny & Cheuk Man totally should be punished one way or the other. 3) I honestly don’t believe Cheuk Manh really loved Tse Kwan in the end. It felt more like all the stuff he said, he was thinking and referring to his relationship with Yee Yin. It seemed more like, out of responsibility, he was going to marry her. Same reason why he took Jimmy back from England. 4) I cannot see why Charles would ever forgive a woman who directly resulted in the suffering of his mother. I eventually ended up watching it for Idy and the other wives. They wrote the relationship between Yee Yin & Arthur ..a couple that we would root for but again…very unbearable to watch because it’s heartbreaking.

    I think Idy’s acting gradually improved too in SSSS. While I never watched any of her works before, her acting definitely matched with the dynamics of the drama. Some may disagree, but I feel as her story went on, I saw more and more “inner acting”. Perhaps even more so, I and along with the huge new wave of Idy fans became really immersed with Yee Yin!!

    BUT I think your recommendation to watch the UpHeaval really sealed it for me! Yip Ling ~!! <3 <3

    • #
      sakura
      January 18th, 2013 at 11:17 AM

      I couldn’t disagree more with all you’ve said. I skipped the whole Hong Tze Kwan thing, her character is already the flaw in the beginning. I was hoping an outrageous act from Charles, in which would cause a fall in Arthur, but his role is just plain boring. Jimmy showed contrition on his actions, but he really wanted to a complete forgiveness and full acceptance from Arthur. Both of them should be forever indebted ton Yee Yin.

      Yes – I can see the huge wave of new Idy’s fans. Idy’s mission on getting her name known by returning to act is really successful.

      Have you listened to Idy’s radio drama Love In A Fallen City 傾城之戀? I wish they had filmed it instead as a radio. I meant to upload on Youtube for a while now but still haven’t got the time…

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