“Storm in a Cocoon” Travels Across the Guangdong Countryside
Starring Steven Ma (馬浚偉) in his first TVB television drama since leaving the station’s management in 2012, the upcoming period mystery drama series Storm in a Cocoon <守業者> will premiere in Hong Kong on Monday, February 17. Produced by Leung Choi Yuen (梁材遠), one of Steven’s most frequent collaborators, the series balances the thematic problems of business politics and a family murder.
Spoilers
After Poon Hau Yee (Akina Hong 康華), the leader of a Shunde-based silk business, mysteriously commits suicide one night, her youngest brother Poon Ka Sing (Yeung Chiu Hoi 楊潮凱) suddenly falls extremely sick. Second son Poon Ka Yeung (Steven Ma), who worked as a military doctor, returns home to help his father and the family business.
Hau Yee’s best friend, traditional Chinese medic Tong Bing Bing (Tavia Yeung 楊怡), finds Hau Yee’s death suspicious, and together with Ka Yeung, she launches an investigation on her death. Ka Yeung realizes that the family business is not like what it appears on the surface, and every worker, including every family, have become suspects in Hau Yee’s death.
One of the biggest suspects is Ka Yeung’s older brother Poon Ka Hin (Evergreen Mak 麥長青), the Poon family’s eldest child. Ka Hin is an honest, forgiving, but foolish man, prompting his father to give his younger sister Hau Yee the reins of their family business. After Hau Yee’s death, Ka Hin attempts to reassume power.
Ka Hin was in love with factory forewoman Sin Bik Wan (Maggie Shiu 邵美琪), but due to their socioeconomic differences, they were pressured to stay apart. After Ka Hin failed to elope with Bik Wan, she vowed celibacy. Ka Hin ended up marrying the ambitious Yeung Yim To (Tracy Ip 葉翠翠), who hopes to see her husband take the silk business in his own hands. Meanwhile, con artist Fung Chi Ching (Natalie Tong 唐詩詠), in a struggle to avoid monetary debt, gets offered a job in the factory. Calculative, Chi Ching is unwilling to work as a factory girl forever.
Leung Choi Yuen, who has worked in countryside dramas such as Plain Love <情濃大地> and Country Spirit <酒是故鄉醇>, based Storm in a Cocoon on the countryside culture of Shunde, a district of Foshan, China. “This time, we added detective elements into the plot of a countryside drama. We hope to challenge old-fashioned mindsets by using a modern approach to problems. In a story built on the foundation of a hundred-year-old silk business, the series will also be enveloped around a family murder case,” explained producer Leung Choi Yuen.
The cast and crew of Storm in a Cocoon traveled to various villages and countryside districts in the Guangdong Province of mainland China for location shootings, including Foshan’s Shunde district and the Zhaoqing villages. To stay true to the Shunde spirit, the cast visited local silk museums and the dormitories of celibate factory girls. They also reached out to local silk weavers to help with the filming of the drama. Stressing the importance of scenery and realism, the producer recommended the audience to watch out for a particular typhoon disaster that will occur in the series, revealing that a real typhoon invaded the villages while the crew was on location. The scene was a reenactment of what the villagers suffered.
Source: TVB Magazine via kuangaitvb.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
“The cast and crew of Storm in a Cocoon traveled to various villages and countryside districts in the Guangdong Province of mainland China for location shootings, including Foshan’s Shunde district and the Zhaoqing villages. ”
And there in one scene you see the forbidden palace. Ha! Ha!
Huh? What forbidden palace?
The series of ailing events lead the father Poon Win Nin to call back his second son Poon Ka Yeung (Steven Ma), who worked as a military doctor, to return home to help the family business.
The above is inaccurate:
Actually Mr.Poon did not call Steven home, he came home on his own when against his father’s wishes he left home 5 years ago to join the army as medic. His disillusion with the war made him decide to return home to his family. Mr. Poon is so happy to have his rebellious son home again that all is instantly forgiven. source: siac tvb.com site.
不過年少的家揚甚為反叛，自從因為患上頑疾而接觸西醫學術後，便鍥而不捨地追求理想，甚到無視父母反對，偷偷到省城讀醫，並決定報國從軍，令永年又驚又怒！
五年過去，家揚飽受戰爭洗禮，亦有感離家多年，決定回鄉探望家人。其時永泰隆正舉行嫘祖誕祭典，普天同慶中，家揚突然現身，令潘家上下又驚又喜，永年與家揚兩父子久別重遇，真情流露，得以冰釋前嫌。
Hmmm…that story arc sounds familiar — isn’t it similar to what happened with Joe Ma’s character in Country Spirit?
Anyway, regardless, I’m still looking forward to this series. Haven’t seen a countryside themed drama in awhile and I definitely miss seeing Steven onscreen….plus Uncle Choi’s series are usually pretty good…I just hope it isn’t going to have a ‘sad’ ending like some of the previous countryside dramas had…
clamine,
Thanks for pointing out this info, which has been revised in the article.
the producer recommended the audience to watch out for a particular typhoon disaster that will occur in the series, revealing that a real typhoon invaded the villages while the crew was on location. The scene was a reenactment of what the villagers suffered.
News report–
When filming in Ying De,the SIAC troupe encountered the fury of Typhoon Utor causing massive flooding to the village.
Steven recalled:
“Fortunately our troupe had already finished the Ying De on-location filming, else with much of the beautiful scenery places under water, our filming progress would have been definitely seriously affected. Producer Leung was grateful to be so fortunate as to have finished the filming in time.”
Very excited for this drama 🙂 so happy to see Steven back, as well as miss tavia ! <3
Yes really looking forward to this. Great cast. Hope the script, story and costume will be good.
I mean Steven
i do like the casts but might give a miss coz the story sound sad and too much drama.
I love the series Plain Love and Country Spirit and hope this one is as good as those …. (ok time to youtube the theme song of PL, PL2 and CS now hehehe)
Same, I love dramas with this type of setting, can’t wait.
I’m only interested in food history because my mom is nostalgic for her grandmother’s doting introductions of mom’s first popsicle, first mozzarella congee, first homemade persimmon mochi, etc.
so many treasures in the South casually existing similar to Luke Nguyen’s introduction of interesting thinking in the cuisines of the Mekong groups.
I cannot wait to watch this serie!!
One of my favourite collaboration~!
can’t wait for the series to be on air.
Damn, they look good together there!!!
Happy ending pls! Happy ending pls!!!
Yes happy ending for Stephen and Tavia please!
You know what I wanna watch? Steven in a story about him and his 3 wives; Tavia, Fala and Linda.
Haha – incest!
Yes yes yes!!! That sounds like a great idea!
@haha! Ex-TVB scriptwriter, Koo Wai Nam, is way ahead of you, like way back in 2012 he had already suggested having the 3 sisters as Steven’s lovers/concubines in a series that he would write for them.
2012-12-18 17:31 賈偉南HK weibo: Last night on tv (I) saw you with your 3 sisters. What popped into my mind was not “Star, Moon and Sun”「星星 月亮 太陽」instead it’s Jing Ping Mei – 金瓶梅 (the Golden Lotus)
Fala is Pang Jing Lan, Ah Yi is Li Ping Er, and Ka Yan is Chun Mei, and Ximen Qing is….
2012-10-30 07:23 賈偉南HK: The other night Steven and I talked about his three sisters: Tavia, Linda and Fala; aren’t they the ready-made cast for a HK tv series (Star, Moon, Sun)「星星 月亮 太陽」?
Goto link for details on their weibo exchanges: http://stevenma-fanblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-script-on-steven-with-his-three.html
For those who don’t know:
「星星 月亮 太陽」is a famous Chinese novel. The story is a tale of a man in a love relationship at different time with three very different women during the Sino-Japanese war period.
Jin Ping Mei — “For centuries identified as pornographic and officially banned most of the time, the book has nevertheless been read surreptitiously by many of the educated class.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Ping_Mei
miss seeing him in TVB..Just finish watching safe guard again yesterday. I found he has the best chemistry with Linda for some reason..
another boring serie,same old same old,how many of this sort genre have tvb already done? all about fighting for money and power in a family business.first rise then salt,wine,soya sauce and now silk,come on.. always the same theme, only with another setting and actors.tvb should stop with recycling their own dramas.
which series/movie in english or chinese is not recycled stories? you don’t have to watch it if you’re not interested in it
You are right. I am supporting you.
Storyline just as boring,well cast kinda star-studded though I like them!!!!!!!
I love watching Plain Love & Country Spirit with beautiful sceneries
The plot sounds interesting, especially the mystery. I’ll give it a try when the series comes out.
Sounds like. Drama for losers
I have always wanted to comment about the heavy make-ups that the hongkong artists have on their face. I really cant accept it especially when they film traditional dramas. Cant they have lighter or more natural make-ups than heavy make-ups?
Staven ma never aged!! But wow the past years out of the top faden Tavia indeed aged a lot!!
http://stevenma-fanblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/pix.html
haha! Has aged but ever so slowly as evinced by the above pix link.
Steven Ma never ages. With his good-guy look, he will still please the masses. The story line though in a typical setting does have its suspense. Worth watching esp with its strong cast.