the hk version a bit simplified and somehow is a less serious
version. the main story and events are told but its different
compared the the china version which i had watched. entertainment
wise, HK version is better, content wise and details the chinese
version will win for sure. not sure if the hk version is going to
show what happens after liu bang wins xiang yu.
there are a few of such historical based chinese drama shows in
series in those vcd shops, but probably less popular in terms of
who acted in it etc. but the element of interest is more probably
in the actual chinese history and the documented records available.
the more records there are, the more possible it is to use them to
conjure up a plot.
san guo is based on the novel/ romanticised version of the actual
historical events, in someway, it has a lot of bias in terms of
character interpretation.
in some way, the chu-han era (post qin dynasty) is pretty similar
in terms of backdrop, i.e feudal warlords fighting each other being
more powerful, having military advisers, tactics plots, exploits on
human weakness etc.. same template, different characters but still
interesting.
most of these interesting stories are more often during
transitional periods of dynasties for example:
1. Chu-Han story - transition between Qin to Han
2. San Guo - from Han to Jin
Similar stories in the stores which i saw are about similar
stuff:
Tang Tai Zong (li shi min) - beginnings of Tang dynasty
zhu yuan zhang - beginning of ming and fall of yuan
qing gong feng yun - beginnings of Qing
zhao kuang yin - beginnings of Song, i recalled SBC producing a
show like dat before.
such turbulent periods (luan shi) also exist in the modern contect
and shows have been made like
zou chu gong he - end of qing and creation of Chinese Republic, but
i think China have some policy on showing stuff based on material
in the modern days.. so there wasn't much about the history after
that
The other show which I would like to watch to know the details of
the era better is about the Mao Zedong and the civil war in China
between the the communists under Mao and the Nationalist Party
under Chiang Kai Shek. They had the modern stuff, guns canons etc
but they also had able generals and strategies and events like the
Long March, how they came together to fight world war 2, the soong
sisters.. can wiki/ google it, but somehow having to watch it on tv
seems to be a better experience.
