Friday, 20 April 2018

Half a Lifelong Romance

Web Drama: Half a Lifelong Romance / Eighteen Springs
Chinese Title: 情深缘起 / Qing Sheng Yuan Qi / 半生缘 / Ban Sheng Yuan
Broadcast Website: iQIYI, Tencent, Youku

Broadcast Date: November 20, 2020

Air Time: Friday-Monday 20:00 (2 eps), 8 eps released early for VIP (See Viewing Calendar)
Genre: Melodrama, Republican, Romance
Language: Mandarin
Episodes: 48
Director: Yang Yazhou
Production Company: Yihe Wenhua, Perfect World Pictures, Fuse Vision
Origin: China
Source: Adapted from a novel of the same name by Eileen Chang
Costume Design: William Chang Suk-ping

Love Meter

Synopsis and Plot Summary

It revolves around an ill-fated romance and messy entanglements that befalls two sisters in Shanghai during the 1920s and 1930s.

After the Gu Family falls to ruins, Gu Man Zheng (Jiang Xin) finds work at a factory as a clerical assistant and starts a relationship with her colleague Shen Shi Jun (Joe Cheng). In order to earn money, her older sister Gu Man Lu (Carina Lau) becomes a hostess and eventually marries the cunning Zhu Hong Cai (Guo Xiaodong). Shen Shi Jun's family wishes for him to marry Shi Cui Zhi (Dong Yue) who is the daughter of the Shi Family. Yet Cui Zhi falls in love with Shi Jun's good friend Xu Shu Hui (Zou Tingwei).

After getting married, Gu Man Lu feels reassured at leaving her old lifestyle behind to start anew as a proper housewife, but she realizes that she is unable to bear children. She also discovers that her husband lusts after Gu Man Zhen, and they commit an unforgiveable act towards her sister. Years later, Man Zhen and Shi Jun meet again and in spite having their own partners, they begin to rekindle the past.

Fun Facts

Filming took place in Hengdian World Studios, Shanghai and Beijing.
Filming lasted around four months beginning in October 2017 and ending in February 2018.
It was adapted into film numerous times with the movie Eighteen Springs in 1997 that stars the late Anita Mdui and Leon Lai and the TV drama Affair of Half a Lifetime in 2003 that stars Ruby Lin and Patrick Tam.
In order to invite Carina Lau to join the cast, the production team courted the her several times in Hong Kong to convey the script.
It is Joe Cheng's first Republican drama.
It was suddenly announced on Nov 20 that the series will start airing on the same day.

Cast

	Carina Lau as Gu Manlu
	Jiang Xin as Gu Manzhen
	Joe Cheng as Shen Shijun
	Guo Xiaodong as Zhu Hongcai
	Liu Wei as Shi Jingxuan
	Zou Tingwei as Xu Shuhui
	Dong Yue as Shi Cuizhi