Grace Under Fire (2011 TV series)

Grace Under Fire 女拳
Grace Under Fire title card
Genre	Period drama Martial arts
Format	Serial
Written by	Lau Chi-wah
Starring	Liu Xuan Bosco Wong Kenneth Ma Fala Chen John Chiang Elliot Ngok Dominic Lam Raymond Wong
Opening theme	Do Cheung Bat Yap (刀槍不入) by Elisa Chan
Ending theme	Hui Jian (回見) by Liu Xuan
Composer(s)	Tang Chi-wai
Country of origin	Hong Kong
Language(s)	Cantonese
No. of episodes	32
Production
Executive producer(s)	Marco Law
Location(s)	Hong Kong
Camera setup	Multi camera
Running time	45 minutes (per episode)
Production company(s)	TVB
Broadcast
Original channel	TVB Jade
Picture format	576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	7 March 2011 – 17 April 2011
External links
Website

Grace Under Fire (2011 TV series)
Chinese	女拳
Literal meaning	"Female Fist"
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Nǚ Quán Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping Neoi5 Kyun4

Grace Under Fire is a 2011 Hong Kong martial arts television drama. It premiered on 7 March 2011 on Hong Kong's TVB Jade and TVB HD Jade channels, and ran for 32 episodes. Produced by Marco Law, Grace Under Fire is a Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) production. It takes place in the early 1920s in Foshan and Guangzhou during the Republic of China era, and follows a fictional account of Mok Kwai-lan (portrayed by Liu Xuan), the last wife of Chinese martial arts folk hero Wong Fei-hung (portrayed by John Chiang).

Contents 1 Plot overview 2 Cast 3 Awards and nominations 3.1 43rd Ming Pao Anniversary Awards 2011 3.2 45th TVB Anniversary Awards 2011 4 Viewership ratings 5 References 6 External links

Plot overview

Mok Kwai-lan (Liu Xuan) is an ordinary girl working as a water labourer in one of Guangzhou's most famous restaurants. She lives in a simple and steady lifestyle with her uncle, Mok Ping (Law Lok-lam), and Ping's adopted son, Yau Sam-shui (Kenneth Ma). She is best friends with the beautiful Kwai Fa (Fala Chen), an assistant chef working in the same restaurant as her. Longing for Fa's affections, Sam-shui hopes to become a student of Wong Fei-hung (John Chiang), the greatest martial artist of Guangzhou, in order to impress her. Kwai-lan, originally disinterested in martial arts, becomes spellbound by the sport after watching an intense fight between Fei-hung and Fok Koon-wai (Kenny Wong), a Mizongyi practitioner.

Fei-hung is touched by Sam-shui's enthusiasm and agrees to teach him and Kwai-lan, but Ping is strongly against it. He believes they would become aggressive and domineering if they learned kung fu. Kwai-lan disagrees and argues that kung fu is for self protection. Her unyielding determination overwhelms Ping, and Kwai-lan learns from him that she is the only descendant of the Mok Gar family fighting style. As Kwai-lan's father died from a kung fu match, Ping does not want Kwai-lan to meet the same fate. Fei-hung sees a lot of potential in Kwai-lan and convinces Ping to teach her the styles of Mok Gar. Ping finally agrees, simultaneously allowing Sam-shui to become Fei-hung's student. Sam-shui, now proud and egotistical, begins abusing his newfound martial arts skill.

Meanwhile, Kwai-lan meets the unsociable and eccentric young boxer Lui Ching-lung (Bosco Wong) in an underground martial arts arena. As soon as she finds out that his father Lui Kong (Dominic Lam) is sick with leprosy, she immediately asks for Fei-hung's help. However, Kong does not appreciate Fei-hung's hospitality and blames him for destroying his family. Twenty years ago, Kong was once Guangzhou's champion in the Lui Gar fighting style. Fei-hung, already famous for his martial arts in Foshan, challenged Kong to a duel. The two swore an oath: whoever lost the duel would have to leave Guangzhou. Fei-hung defeated Kong, but Kong's wife fell ill, postponing his leave. Fei-hung, drunk from a celebratory dinner, disgraced Kong in public and claimed him to be dishonourable for not keeping his promises. In a rage, Kong quickly leaves the city by night with his sick wife and their infant son Ching-lung. As a result, Kong's wife died and Kong contracted leprosy. From then on, Kong and Ching-lung struggle through a life of discrimination and instability.

Ching-lung, inexperienced in martial arts, seeks revenge for his father and attempts to kill Fei-hung in public, but is quickly defeated by Fei-hung. Fei-hung, however, apologises to Ching-lung for his mistakes and advises Ching-lung to pick up more martial arts before coming back for revenge. Ching-lung is touched by Fei-hung's generosity and decides to become his student. He develops a crush on Kwai-lan, also winning the affections of Fa, much to Sam-shui's jealousy. Kong, sick and shamed by losing to Fei-hung once again, attempts to commit suicide but is saved by Tong Yuet-hang (Elliot Ngok), Guangzhou's chief commissioner. Yuet-hang talks Kong in starting his life over, and suggests him to rebuild the Lui Gar martial arts school in order to compete with Fei-hung's Po Chi Lam. Amidst facing the threats and attacks against Po Chi Lam, Kwai-lan and Fei-hung grow closer. Kwai-lan not only helps Fei-hung in facing Kong's duel challenge, she also saves Po Chi Lam from collapsing. The two begin to fall in love, and Kwai-lan, being forty years younger than Fei-hung, marries him despite Ping's objections.

Jealous of Fa's love for Ching-lung and exhausted from being constantly looked down upon, Sam-shui abandons Fei-hung and becomes Kong's disciple, assisting Yuet-hang and Kong in tarnishing Po Chi Lam's image. Fei-hung, weak from an injury, is defeated from a duel against Kong and loses his title as Guangzhou's number one martial artist. As he watches Yuet-hang and Kong's corrupted governance over Guangzhou, Fei-hung falls fatally ill. Before he dies, Fei-hung teaches all his knowledge of medicine and martial arts to Kwai-lan. For more power, Sam-shui marries Yuet-hang's daughter Shuet-kiu (Kaki Leung). He becomes a spy for the Japanese merchant Tokugawa Kazuo and gains control of all of Yuet-hang's business and political jobs, later becoming the co-mayor of Guangzhou. The Japanese merchants and fighters gain control of Guangzhou's economy and martial arts schools, forcing Po Chi Lam out of business. In an attempt to protect himself and his daughter, Yuet-hang tries to release information of Sam-shui's secret collaborations with the Japanese to the public, but is murdered by Sam-shui before he could do so. Kwai-lan, hiding in Foshan with Ching-lung, returns to Guangzhou and wins in a fight with the Japanese martial artists, reviving the pride of Chinese martial arts. She finds evidence of Sam-shui's crimes and tries to convince him back on the right path. Sam-shui, already maniacal and in a point of no return, starts a fire to burn Po Chi Lam down to the ground.

Cast

• Liu Xuan as Mok Kwai-lan (莫桂蘭), a realistic and simple-minded girl who is a descendant of the family who invented the Mok Gar style of Southern Chinese martial arts. She is a huge admirer of Wong Fei-hung, who is over 40 years her senior, and insists to marry Wong despite her family's objections. Grace Under Fire is Liu's first television drama since joining TVB in 2009. Liu, a retired Mainland Chinese Olympic gold-medal gymnast, explained that her gymnastic background has helped her to adapt to martial arts stunts easier. Instead, Liu said her hardest challenges were filming emotional scenes and reading and reciting Cantonese dialogue. According to Liu, producer Law required the cast and crew to only speak Cantonese to her on set.^[1] Liu's voice is dubbed by Kitty Wong.

• Kenneth Ma as Yau Sam-shui (游三水), Kwai-lan's older adopted brother who works as a waiter in a restaurant. Like Kwai-lan, he greatly admires Wong Fei-hung and hopes to one day become his disciple. Sam-shui, initially naive and kind, grows to become someone who is calculative and cruel after experiencing many pain and unfair setbacks. He vows to be "head and shoulders above others."^[2] Sam-shui's unrequited love for Kwai-lan's best friend, Fa, also contributes to Sam-shui's insanity as Fa is in love with Ching-lung instead of him. Sam-shui is Ma's first villain role.^[3] Ma is impressed with Sam-shui's solid and dimensional characterisation, and praises the role to be a man "with flesh and blood."^[2]

• Fala Chen as Kwai Fa (葵花), Kwai-lan's best friend. Fa is opinionated, determined, and strong. She is even willing to marry a significantly older man in order to meet her needs and goals. However, after she meets Ching-lung, whom she later falls in love with, Fa's character becomes softer and more independent. Fa is also a key character in contributing to Sam-shui's developing madness as she does not return Sam-shui's love for her. Chen expressed that Fa's spunky personality is very similar to actress Tina Leung, intelligent and colourful.^[4]

• Bosco Wong as Lui Ching-lung (雷正龍), also known as Shandong's Iron Monkey (山東鐵馬騮), is a young autistic wanderer. Since his youth, Ching-lung and his father wander from county to county while practicing illegal martial arts. Both Ching-lung and his father are constantly being discriminated from peers, and for most of his earlier life, Ching-lung has had virtually no social life. He does not know how to communicate with others, nor could he fully express his own personality. Ching-lung begins opening up after meeting Kwai-lan, and even starts falling in love with her. Complementing Ching-lung's isolated personality, Wong does not speak much in the first 10 episodes.^[5] While Wong said it was comfortable to not have dialogue to remember, he was required to consistently receive martial arts training because most of his scenes in the first 10 episodes are fighting scenes.^[6]

• John Chiang as Wong Fei-hung (黃飛鴻), a martial arts practitioner who is known for glorifying the Hung Ga style. He is also a traditional Chinese medicine physician and operates a private practice medical clinic, Po Chi Lam, in Foshan. Chiang has expressed pressure in portraying Wong Fei-hung, a figure that was previously famously portrayed by Kwan Tak-hing in numerous films, and Jet Li in the Once Upon a Time in China blockbuster series. Producer Law insists Chiang to portray Wong Fei-hung in a relaxing manner, greatly differentiating past portrayals, in which most depict Wong Fei-hung as uptight and youthful. To prepare for the role, Chiang took martial arts training two months in advance of filming. Martial arts practitioner and actor Gordon Liu agreed to help Chiang throughout the filming process. Chiang also requested for the director to add in more scenes that have him fight as he believed Wong Fei-hung should still be very capable of fighting despite his older age.^[4]
  • Eric Li portrays the young Wong Fei-hung

• Elliot Ngok as Tong Yuet-hang (唐乙恆), the mayor of Guangzhou. Though he carries a careless appearance, Yuet-hang is constantly striving to rise even higher in the social ladder, scheming his way to the top. He has been enemies with Wong Fei-hung since they were both younger. Despite being raised in a much poorer and less-civilized family than Fei-hung, Yuet-hang secretly harbours ambitious intentions of becoming a successful figure in the city. After he becomes mayor, Yuet-hang continues to plot against Fei-hung by using Lui Kong, Ching-lung's father, increasing the misunderstandings between the two families. Producer Law wanted two different portrayals of Yuet-hang to show the character's dramatic change in personality. Ngok (older Yuet-hang) was to portray a much more calculative side of Yuet-hang, while Ben Wong (younger Yuet-hang) was to portray a much more innocent and calmer side.^[7]
  • Ben Wong portrays the young Tong Yuet-hang

• Dominic Lam as Lui Kong (雷剛), Ching-lung's father. A wanderer and a practitioner of illegal martial arts, Kong blames Wong Fei-hung for his family's misfortune.
  • Ruco Chan portrays the young Lui Kong

• Eddie Kwan as Tsui Hing-to (徐慶圖), Tong Yuet-hang's right hand man.

• Kenny Wong as Fok Koon-wai (霍冠威), a Mizongyi practitioner and Fei-hung's good friend.

• Ram Chiang as Ho Tim-fuk (何添福), Yuet-hang's brother-in-law and owner of Yan Yu Restaurant.

• Law Lok-lam as Mok Ping (莫平), Kwai-lan's uncle and Sam-shui's foster father, who works at Yan Yu Restaurant as a tea master.

• Raymond Wong as Wong Hon-yip (黄漢業), Wong Fei-hung's second son. He is a young reporter that knows no harm to what he was doing. Against to his father's wrong acts during the past, he does not look up to his father. The knot was untied after a trouble he got into during reporting, however it did not last long as he was killed in a drunk fight involving Sam-shui. Raymond Wong is slated to appear in only 6 episodes.

Awards and nominations

43rd Ming Pao Anniversary Awards 2011

• Nominated: Outstanding Actor in Television (John Chiang)

45th TVB Anniversary Awards 2011

• Nominated: Best Drama
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Elliot Ngok)
• Nominated: My Favourite Female Character (Liu Xuan)

Viewership ratings

	Week	Episodes	Average Points	Peaking Points	References
1	March 7 - March 11, 2011	1 — 5	26	28	[8]
2	March 14 - March 18, 2011	6 — 10	27	30	[9]
3	March 21 - March 25, 2011	11 — 15	29	—	[10]
4	March 28 - March 31, 2011	16 — 19	28	—	[11]
5	April 4 - April 8, 2011	20 — 24	28	—	[12]
6	April 11 - April 15, 2011	25 — 29	31	—	[13]
	April 17, 2011	30 — 32	32	34	[13]

References

External links

• Official TVB Website (Chinese)
• K for TVB English Synopsis (English)

TVB series in 2011 First Line Series Show Me the Happy • Be Home for Dinner • Til Love Do Us Lie Second Line Series Home Troopers • 7 Days in Life • Only You • Relic of an Emissary • My Sister of Eternal Flower • Wax and Wane • The Life and Times of a Sentinel • River of Wine • Super Snoops • Curse of the Royal Harem • Bottled Passion Third Line Series Links to Temptation • A Great Way to Care • The Rippling Blossom • Grace Under Fire • Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir! • Ghetto Justice • The Other Truth • Lives of Omission • Men with No Shadows • Forensic Heroes III • When Heaven Burns Fourth Line Series Dropping by Cloud Nine 2010 ← 2011 → 2012