Master Ma

Master Ma
Master Ma intertitle
Genre	Period drama, martial arts drama
Written by	Wai-ma Group
Directed by	Fan Sau-ming Wong Kun-fai
Starring	Kenny Ho Yu Hsiao-fan Anita Lee Cheng Pei-pei Chan Hung-lit Norman Chu Fan Bingbing Howie Huang
Theme music composer	Wong Bong-yin
Opening theme	Tit Huet Nam Yee (鐵血男兒) performed by Ngan Chun-lam
Country of origin	Hong Kong Taiwan
Original language(s)	Cantonese Mandarin
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	22 (season 1) 20 (season 2)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Lau Man-ban Luk Bo-chuen So Kwok-leung
Producer(s)	Fan Sau-ming Ngai Ho-wo Chow Hiu-fung Choi Yu-ban Ma Kit Chow Ling-gong
Location(s)	Hong Kong Taiwan
Cinematography	Lau Tat-shing Kwok Chi-yan Chow Chun-lun
Editor(s)	Chiu Hung-shing
Running time	45 minutes per episode
Production company(s)	ATV CTV
Release
Original network	ATV CTV
First shown in	1998

Master Ma is a two-season 1998 Hong Kong-Taiwanese television series produced by the television stations ATV and CTV. It is loosely based on the life of Ma Yongzhen (馬永貞), a Hui Chinese martial artist who lived in the late Qing dynasty. The series was directed by Fan Sau-ming and starred Kenny Ho as the eponymous character.

Plot

Season 1

The series is set in the Warlord Era of early 20th-century China. Ma Yongzhen and his mother, Ma Daniang, live in Shandong Province, where they raise horses for Marshal Duan's army. One night, the stables mysteriously catch fire and the horses are lost. Marshal Duan's men arrest and imprison Ma and his mother, but they fight their way out and escape. Ma makes his way alone to Shanghai to earn a new living.

In Shanghai, Ma becomes famous after winning a horse race and a martial arts tournament. However, he also gets into trouble with the two most powerful gangs in Shanghai: the White Gang led by Bai Laili, and the Wuhu Gang led by Xue Changchun. At the same time, he starts a romance with Xue's mistress, the opera singer Liu Juchi, but has no chance to be together with her. With the help of Duan Lengcui and others, Ma creates the Zhendong Gang, which, unlike the other gangs, aims to help the poor and fight injustice. At the end of the season, Ma eliminates the Wuhu Gang and makes peace with the White Gang.

Season 2

Season 2 revolves around a rivalry between Ma Yongzhen and Bai Laili. Bai resorts to various cunning means in his attempt to eliminate Ma and the Zhendong Gang. First, he sends his goons to infiltrate Ma's gang and steal a shipment of foreign goods stored in Ma's warehouses. Next, he orders his henchman Tang Biao to assassinate the French consul and frame Ma for the murder. Eventually, with help from Duan Lengcui's father, who turns out to be Marshal Duan, Ma succeeds in clearing his name and resolving the problems. With Marshal Duan as his ally, Ma manages to keep Bai Laili and the White Gang at bay for some time.

At the same time, Ma's feelings for Liu Juchi gradually diminish as he becomes more romantically involved with Duan Lengcui. Ma and Duan Lengcui are engaged to be married. Marshal Duan and the Japanese consul convince Ma to support them in opening a new hospital to provide medical services for the poor in Shanghai and improve Sino-Japanese ties. However, Ma and his friends discover later that the hospital is actually being used for sinister purposes — Marshal Duan is collaborating with the Japanese to develop biological weapons in the hospital, and in return, the Japanese will aid him in defeating the Kuomintang government. At the same time, Ma encounters a hostile Japanese martial artist, Kimura, who supports Bai Laili and constantly seeks to create trouble for him.

Cast

• Kenny Ho as Ma Yongzhen (馬永貞), the protagonist and boss of the Zhendong Gang.
• Grace Yu as Liu Juchi (柳菊池), Ma Yongzhen's first love interest.
• Anita Lee as Duan Lengcui (段冷翠), Duan Tianfeng’s daughter and Ma Yongzhen's second love interest.
• Cheng Pei-pei as Ma Daniang (馬大娘), Ma Yongzhen's mother.
• Chan Hung-lit as Bai Laili (白癩痢), the boss of the White Gang.
• Norman Chu as Xue Changchun (薛長春), the boss of the Wuhu Gang.
• Fan Bingbing as Bai Xiaodie (白小蝶), Bai Laili's daughter. At the end of the second season, she is revealed to be actually Ma Yongzhen's long-lost younger sister, Ma Suzhen.
• Howie Huang as Sun Jisheng (孫濟生), a physician and Kuomintang secret agent. He is Bai Xiaodie's lover.
• Yang Sheng as Jiang Shiguang (蔣世光), a policeman in Shanghai who befriends Ma Yongzhen. He is promoted to Deputy Chief Inspector later. He is murdered by Kimura.
• Lin Jing as Wenjing (文靜), Jiang Shiguang's love interest. She is seriously injured by Kimura and dies from her injuries later.
• Cheng Sihan as Lu Kuangtian (盧況天), a warlord who takes control over Shanghai in the first season. He flees from Shanghai after his army is defeated. He is killed by robbers while in hiding.
• Lung Tien-hsiang as Tang Biao (唐彪), Bai Laili's chief henchman. He is killed by Ma Yongzhen and Luo Zhan after they discover that he was the one who murdered the French consul.
• He Zhonghua as Luo Zhan (羅湛), one of Xue Changchun's followers. At the end of the first season, he accidentally falls off a cliff during the battle between the Wuhu and Zhendong gangs and is believed to be dead. However, in the second season, it is revealed that he was saved by Sun Jisheng and has joined the Kuomintang intelligence service to help Sun in gathering information about Shanghai's situation. He is killed by Kimura.
• Chang Chen-huan as Duan Tianfeng (段天峰), a warlord who takes control of Shanghai in the second season.
• Mondi Yau as Chen Jiamei (陳嘉美), a Japanese spy in disguise as a courtesan. She becomes Bai Laili's mistress.
• Shen Meng-sheng as Ding Xianjin (丁先進), the son of a wealthy businessman. He uses his family fortune to start a drama troupe to provide free entertainment to the poor. He falls in love with Liu Juchi.
• Kou Zhanwen as Kimura (木村), an overbearing and formidable Japanese martial artist.

Remake

The series was remade in 2012 as a mainland Chinese television series titled Ma Yongzhen, directed by Kuk Kwok-leung and starring Danny Chan as Ma Yongzhen. Norman Chu and He Zhonghua are cast in the remake as Bai Laili and Xue Changchun respectively.

See also

• Boxer from Shantung, a 1972 Hong Kong film based on the life of Ma Yongzhen.

External links

• (in Chinese) Master Ma (season 1) on Baidu Baike
• (in Chinese) Master Ma II (season 2) on Baidu Baike