Linda Chung Found Challenges in Filming “All That is Bitter is Sweet”
While the women of today are struggling for equality, women in ancient times struggle to survive in a stringent patriarchal society. TVB’s new period drama All That is Bitter is Sweet <大藥坊>, which takes place in the early Republican era of China, is at a crossroad between ancient and modern practices. To Kai Kei (Linda Chung 鍾嘉欣), the only daughter of physician To Sam (Du Yange 杜燕歌), challenges the ancient regime when she single-handedly brings her family’s business back in the market, becoming the first female physician and pharmacist of China.
“There are very little Republican era dramas with a female character as its central character,” said Linda. “That’s why this drama is a very rare opportunity for me.”
Linda’s role, To Kai Kei, is a young female physician whose family owns a traditional Chinese pharmacy. When her father gets framed for a crime and imprisoned, Kai Kei had to struggle on her own to bring the business back into the market. In addition, she had to bear the death of her husband Chong Kai Cho (Raymond Wong 黃浩然).
“In ancient times, women didn’t have to accomplish anything. All they needed to do was to take care of their husbands and children. To Kai Kei is different from all those women. She has an avant-garde mindset. She has dreams and wants to continue her father’s business and become an official traditional Chinese physician. Although she came across many unfortunate things, she was still able to pursue her own dreams. I believe that through watching To Kai Kei’s own experiences, viewers would be able to find hope in their own lives.”
One of the most challenging aspects of playing a traditional Chinese physician is the script. Linda, who was born and educated in Canada, struggled with memorizing many medical terminologies.
“Chinese medicine terminology and jargon is very difficult. In the beginning I was able to memorize a few of the easier ones, but the more I had to memorize, the more confusing it got. I really don’t have any talent when it comes to Chinese medicine.”
Linda herself would see a traditional Chinese physician when she is unwell, but she did not know how difficult it is to be one until she started on All That Is Bitter Is Sweet. “When it comes to checking someone’s pulse or using a needle, your hand has to be still. My hands are very shaky, and when we did close-up shots using those techniques, I had to concentrate completely. Playing a traditional Chinese physician is really hard. Thankfully, Ruco and Raymond were there to help me out. To come across such great partners enabled me to get more into character.”
Unfortunately, Ruco Chan (陳展鵬) was not always around to help Linda out. “There was one scene where Ruco and I were supposed to go to the edge of the cliff to find herbs. After we completed the scene, I was left behind to finish some close shots. However, I wasn’t strong enough and after thirty minutes of struggling, I still couldn’t get up the hill. I was scared and cried. Thankfully, the staff was there to help me up and I was able to climb to safety.”
Source: TVB Weekly
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
I’m sure the script was difficult and perhaps filming was difficult too. However, I still am not convinced that Linda acting would be any different in this drama series from her previous ones. She is just so boring.
watched the first episode. She’s the same old same old….
i can already picture her crying… nd crying nd crying… smh. she’s so boring. nd i prolly won’t even watch the new series just because she’s in in. smh again
Can’t agree more. She’s just boring
i generally skip dramas starring linda as the lead and i considered not watching it but i ran out of shows to watch. sad, there’s so few cantonese dramas to watch. we need more cantonese dramas….
Linda has improved a lot and she is one of the best that I admired… She is not pretentious n she is very down to earth gal so just give her a break.. No one is perfect.
Attitude wise – i think great…
Character wise- i think cant be bad
Acting wise-NOT GOOD
I am not judging her as a person, i am commenting on her acting skills…
i am not really into a “I must watch this show” mood cos its her leading….
I like that she’s a down to earth type of person. Can’t find many actresses like that these days.
Her acting hasn’t improved much since her debut.
You go girl!!! It’s not easy to remember all those medical terms, herb names and medical jargon especially since she was brought up overseas. I think she’s very hardworking and did her homework to prepare for her role. Just for her efforts alone, she gets an “A” from me.
I like her and although she might not be the best actress by far, but she always have something more to give in any characters thrown to her and I like her personality. 😉
Sorry but her acting is really mediocre. She is using the same style of acting over and over again. Nothing interesting
I won’t comment on her acting in this drama until her whole performance is done … just to be fair. Those that already gave bad comments without watching the drama yet is just silly in my opinion.
we are not judging without watching, we judged based on past performance..
unless you believe she has improved leaps and bounds since the last show
Yes u are judging without watching. Past is the past. So if an actress sucks last year then this year the same? Feel sorry for your children in the future. If your child sucks in the school grades every year then that’s it? …your life is over and u will never get good grades again? I choose to give Linda a chance and not comment on her acting until the whole drama is over. Maybe she won’t improve? Maybe she is more acceptable? Maybe it’s her best performance later in the drama? Don’t know but I won’t judge people like how u do it.
I agree with JCLL.
“There was one scene where Ruco and I were supposed to go to the edge of the cliff to find herbs. After we completed the scene, I was left behind to finish some close shots. However, I wasn’t strong enough and after thirty minutes of struggling, I still couldn’t get up the hill. I was scared and cried. Thankfully, the staff was there to help me up and I was able to climb to safety.”
Hinting that they are not dating? Cover up? I guess lol
She may be hardworking, but still not a great actress. Have yet to be impressed by her acting in ATIBIS. Hope there will be some surprises in future episodes.
I’m impressed that Linda can composed songs too. She composed and sang the sub theme.
I liked the sub-theme song. Credits to her for being able to compose music. Not many actor/atresses can possess that talent. I just wished her signing is more on par with the song.
“the only daughter”
She is in fact the only child.
And wow, spoilers!!
expecting a usual acting style from linda but learning chinese medicine and performing what a chinese medicine practitioner probably isnt easy.
but this isnt her breakthrough drama. the one that will test her acting skills is tiger cubs2
nice! i’m looking forward to this film!!!!! hope is gonna be a good film!!! 😉
Her best acting scene was actually in The River Wine, being a pregnant woman and giving birth. That’s her best… she needs to get away from goody roles. Too generic acting, please choose different types of character to act, Linda jie…
“I was scared and cried”- seriously? How old is she again? Time to grow up and be an independent woman.
Linda is the female version of Ron.. Linda in her series screams and cries and is getting the same roles over and over again
They should have at least have no one believe in Kai Kei’s medicine knowledge in the beginning and then slowly have the public “open their eyes” and believe in her skill as she proves/saves people. Even in the first few eps, she’s already well-liked, respected, and known for her “skill/talent.” It undermine the “struggle” of a woman from that period.
It’s inconsistent how they portray her skill. She seemed intelligent and respected when sorting out those medicines in ep. 1, but in ep. 3, no one believed her when she was talking about the disease. They instead said she wasn’t a real doctor and to call her dad out.
I agree in part about her knowledge but I do think even if she was well liked, very intelligent and capable, the norm of the society back then is against her so the struggle is still there and is not undermined. If the series had to start with her being not experienced in medicine, then it will take her decades to find success since medicine is not something you can learn in a day. However I do have issues about her knowledge vs those in the pharmacy.
No matter how good her medical knowledge is… She ‘s still a woman. Episode 3 people are in panic. They will not believe her but believe the father (man). I guess she will struggle a lot to prove to the town she really can treat people and help them later on in the drama.
She just have some medical knowledge but she’s not professional yet. Her father never really teach her much because she is a daughter! She will not continue his business and will get married. U see her write down in her medical diary so she is still learning what her father tells her. How she will become so good later on with her skills/knowledge in treatment/meds we will have to see.
ITA with you. Women were just not as well as respected as men in that era. People were in a panic, of course they wanted reassurance from her dad, the respected physician.
To be fair, even if the assurance comes from Pierre or any male doctor the crowd would have reacted the same way and will demand for the old master’s assurance.
” see her write down in her medical diary so she is still learning what her father tells her.”
She is unsure but her diagnosis is the same as her father’s which means she has talent.
Maybe she will discover Penicillin.
I agree with miramfanz that they’re being inconsistent with her character. If they don’t respect her, then why would they just take her words between 2 different pills. I mean, they made it pretty dangerous to mix them up. They were panicking in eps 1 too. The pharmacists (all men) even agreed with a “nobody (profession-wise)” AND a woman… without question asked. Shouldn’t they be like, well we shouldn’t listen to you -you’re a woman or not a doctor. Or even a simple line by one of the pharmacists, oh yes, I remember that trick but just totally forgot in the heat of things. That would have show/emphasize how they undermine a woman in that era. That’s just my opinion.
BORING!!!!
Yea introdution kinda slowwwwwwww i like watching LC anyways, bring it on babe!!!!