Just in Singapore 一房半厅一水缸

March 8, 2008 in 2008 Dramas, Dramas

Starting on 25th Febuary 2008, at 9pm on Chanel 8, this 30-episode drama revolves around a group of residents in a HDB one-room rental flat block, and a certain ceramic water tub which is supposedly worth over a million US dollars!

Stars: Fiona Xie as Lin Xiuming, Kang Chengxi as Su Dingyi, Chen Liping as Nancy, Huang Wenyong as Lin Bang, Adam Chen as Ma Zhigang, Li Yinzhu as ‘zi-dong’ sao, Patricia Mok as Mary, Nelson Chia (Xie Shenjie) as Robert, the late Lan Qingxi as Qiang (San Wan), newcomer Paige Chua (Cai Qihui) as Xiuzhen, Apple Hong as Qianqian, Liang Tian as ‘ka-fei’ shu, He Bin as ‘ka-fei’ sao, Hong Da Mu as Ma po-po, Ong Ai Leng as Shumin, Peng Xiuxuan as Weijie, Yan Bingiang as Pao, Rayson Tan as Jianhui, Zhang Wei as Mr. Fang, Hong Huifang as Wang Jiao, Li Tianle as Meiling, Chen Huihui as Lian, Vivian Lai as Jinyan, Belinda Lee as Fang, Elizabeth Tan as Jianhui’s wife, Lin Jia’an as Tingting, Lin Jun Hao as Weiye, Iko Liu as Paris, Hayden Hee as Roger, Suresh as Kumar, Jasmani as Ali, Asmiyati as Yati and Henry Heng as Mr. Su

On the 8th floor of a block of one-room rental HDB flats, live different people from different walks of life.

There’s Lin Bang (Huang Wenyong), a former ge-tai singer, now a taxi driver, and his family – wife, Nancy (Chen Liping) runs a shrine in her house, dedicated to the “goddess” 13 gu-niang. People to come and pray, and she’ll pretend to be a medium in a trance, following that, she’ll give them amulets, then she keeps the angbao money; older daughter, Xiuzhen (Paige Chua), a university undergrad, who refuses to return home, as she is ashamed of her background. She stays in the university hostel, although the only bed in the flat is reserved for her only. She is not Lin Bang’s daughter; and younger daughter, Xiuming (Fiona Xie), who quit studying after passing her N levels. She now runs a fried food stall in the pasar-malam. She is caring, and nice to the people around her. However, her mother only insults her, and compares her to her older sister.

The two sisters form a love triangle, with Su Dingyi (Kang Chengxi), the son of a property magnate, who lectures in the university Xiuzhen aka Carol is studying in. Knowing he is rich, she tries to get his attention. Meanwhile, Xiuming keeps having tussles with him, as she mistakes him time and time again for a pervert. In actual fact, he was making a short film about people in the heartlands. Attracted to Xiuming’s straightforward manner, and how she is honest about her family background, he begins to woo her. Su Dingyi’s mother, Wang Jiao, used to be a famous ge-tai singer, together with Lin Bang. According to him, she was the one who cheated him of all his money, and being in the state he is now, is all thanks to her.

‘zi-dong’ sao (Li Yinzhu) is a widow, who lives with her son, Qiang (Lan Qingxi). Qiang is nicknamed San Wan, for he is a parking attendant. ‘zi-dong’ sao is a miser, and often takes advantage of her neighbours’ generosity. Qiang likes the cashier at the bread shop and goes there everyday to buy a donut just to see her. However, he is mistaken for a pervert.

Ma po-po (Hong Da Mu) stays with her good-for-nothing grandson, Zhigang (Adam Chen). Ma po-po collects cardboard for a living, and scrimps on her meals, eating food people have thrown away, just to let her grandson eat delicious food they cannot afford. Instead of being grateful, Zhigang grumbles about the food she cooks for him, and even asks her for money. Later on, he nearly causes her death to get the insurance payout.

Because of money, he is forced to ‘marry’ massage palour proprietress Paris (Iko Liu) in a fake marriage… Later, Qianqian (Apple Hong), San Wan’s beautiful vietnamese bride comes to Singapore. She is very innocent, and falls into Zhigang’s trap. He wants to elope with her…

Mary (Patricia Mok) and Robert (Nelson Chia-Xie Shenjie) have 3 children, Weijie (Peng Xiuxuan), Weiye (Lin Jun Hao) and Tingting (Lin Jia’an). They were working in a bank until they were retrenched, and have no plans of finding another job. They just sleep and loathe all day, living on the government’s financial aid. Oldest son, Weijie, cannot stand what they are doing, and works at Xiuming’s store to contribute to the family. In actual fact, he is the only one support the whole family. Mary and Robert even encourage Tingting, who has a glib tongue, to cheat people of their money, by pretending to be miserable. They harbour dreams of going overseas, even though they don’t even have enough money to get through their daily lives. They try means and ways to get people to realise how ‘miserable’ they are, and hope to get money should people pity them.

Mr. Fang (Zhang Wei), a retired school teacher, lives with his brother, Pao (Yan Bingliang), an ex-convict, and Pao’s delinquent daughter, Meiling (Li Tianle). To prevent Meiling from going out of the house, they tie her up. She manages to escape in the middle of the night, and the commotion wakes all the neighbours, who try to stop her. This makes Pao grateful to his neighbours. It turns out that Lian (Chen Huihui), the mad woman in the neighbourhood, is Meiling’s mother.

‘ka-fei’ shu (Liang Tian) and ‘ka-fei’ sao (He Bin) run a coffee store in the hawker centre. Although they have 2 grow-up children who are well-educated – older son Jianhui (Rayson tan) holds a doctorate, and younger daughter Shumin (Ong Ai Leng) is a high-flying career woman, they continue to stay in their rental flat. Shumin turns up one day and announces that she and her husband will apply for them to stay in a 3-room flat at Bedok Central. However, they must sign a will which is in her favour. She then asks them to look after her son, as the private neighbourhood she is currently staying in has dengue cases.

Thus, the story about the ceramic water tub begins. Seen by Shumin as a hazard, as she is afraid her son might drown in it, she asks her parents to get rid of it. It ends up in Ma po-po’s house, where Mr. Fang sees it, and researches. It resembles a nine-dragon tub bought in Hong Kong for US$2 million over 50 years ago, and Mr. Fang deduces that it is a fake. Zhigang loses it while running away from his creditors, and it is picked up by Weijie. But it still travels, and ends up in all the neighbours’ houses, and when it is finally known that it may be an antique worth a few million US dollars, no one knows where it has gone…

Everyone tries to get their hands on it…

THE THEME SONG: 屋檐 (Wu Yan) by 亦迅 Yi Xun

THE SUB-THEME SONG: 替我爱你 (Ti Wo Ai Ni) by 陈迪雅 Chen Diya :)

RATING (for the time being): 4.2/5.0 (Very Good!)