The Bund (上海灘)
Genre	Drama
Starring	Chow Yun-Fat, Ray Lui Leung-Wai
Opening theme	"上海灘" (Shanghai Beach) by Frances Yip
Country of origin	Hong Kong
Language(s)	Cantonese
No. of episodes	25
Production
Producer(s)	Zhao Zhenqiang
Running time	approx. 45 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Television Broadcasts Limited
Original run	March 10, 1980 – 1980

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The Bund (Chinese: 上海灘; pinyin: Shàng Hǎi tān; literal translation: Shanghai Bund) is a classic 1980 TVB period drama series broadcast in Hong Kong. The series spawned several sequels, remakes, and film adaptations. The theme song of the show also became a memorable Cantopop hit.

[edit] Summary

The series starred Chow Yun-Fat (周潤發) and Ray Lui (呂良偉) as triad members in pre-war Shanghai. They struggled for power and survival in the 1920s Republic of China era. The pair was also caught in a love triangle with female lead Angie Chiu (趙雅芝).

[edit] Cast

• Chow Yun-Fat as Hui Man-Keung (許文強)
• Ray Lui as Ting Lik (丁力)
• Angie Chiu as Fung Ching-Ching (馮程程)
• Lau Dan as Fung Ging-Yiu (馮敬堯)
• Kent Tong as Chan Hon-Lam (陳翰林)
• Lam Kin-ming (林建明) as Fong Yim-Wun(方艷芸)

[edit] Cultural reference

Two scenes have subsequently been replicated and parodied in many movies and TV shows in Hong Kong. The wedding of Lui (丁力) and Chiu's characters (馮程程) was one. The death of Chow's character (許文強) was another. In particular, Chow Yun-Fat was propelled into the limelight and became a household name in Hong Kong.^[1] The scene where he was assassinated outside a restaurant is culturally considered one of the all-time greatest scenes in HK television.^[1]

[edit] The Bund theme song

The theme song "上海灘", translated from The Bund's "外灘", is well known in Hong Kong. The song was sung in Cantonese, and originally performed by Frances Yip. It was one of the early collaborations composed by Joseph Koo with the lyrics done by Wong Jim.^[2] The song would also become one of the top 10 songs awarded in the 1980 RTHK Gold songs awards.^[3]

The 1996 movie Shanghai Grand released some 16 years later also re-used the same song. This version was performed by Andy Lau.^[2]

[edit] Theme song

Shanghai Beach (上海灘)

• Lyrics: Wong Jim
• Composition and Arrangement: Joseph Koo
• Performance: Frances Yip

[edit] Sequels, remakes and adaptations

The show was a phenomenal success throughout Asia and the episodes were subsequently re-edited into two features in 1983.^[4] Chow Yun-Fat also increased his popularity due to the series.^[4]

In the original, Chow Yun-Fat's character had been killed off and thus, Chow did not return for the sequel The Bund II except for a brief flashback cameo appearance. In both The Bund II and The Bund III, Lui Leung-Wai continued to play his signature role of Ting Lik.

The original series was also remade in 1996 with 40 episodes with Sunny Chan Kam-hung and Nadia Chan as Once Upon a Time in Shanghai.

A 1996 movie Shanghai Grand was also released with a similar Shanghai gangster theme, but reduced to 2 hours. It was directed by Poon Man-Kit and produced by Tsui Hark.^[1]

The most recent version is the 2007 remake by a Mainland China cast and crew, starring Huang Xiao Ming.

[edit] DVD Release

On February 6, 2009, TVBI released the original series and its two sequels on DVD format.

The original series, substantially edited, was previously released on VCD format in 2000.

[edit] References

• The Bund official website

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Hong Kong Heartbreaker - review of "The Bund"
• The Bund at the Internet Movie Database