Beijing My Love

Not Available

In Original Voice Korean & Mandarin
Korean Stars Speak Korean. Chinese Stars Speak Mandarin

Traditional Chinese

22 VCDs Box Set

Kim Jae Won, Sun Fei Fei & Han Chae Young

KBS 2004 Release

When two cultures collide, sparks usually result. The first Korean-Chinese co-produced drama series, "Beijing, My Love," is about a happy collision of two cultures. The show is a joint effort by CCTV from China and KBS from Korea and went on the air yesterday on KBS 2 TV.

Na Min-kook (Kim Jae-won), a spoiled 20-something rich guy whose motto has been "Have fun and get wasted," is suddenly left stranded in Beijing on his concerned father's instructions. He meets a sweet Chinese college girl, Yangsul (Sun Peipei), who rescues him and helps him adjust to his new surroundings. Then a love triangle develops when brilliant Korean career woman Jung Yun-sook (Han Che-young) appears. The drama is about a journey of a youth searching for love, success and his true self.

According to director Lee Kyo-wook, more than 80 percent of the film was shot in Beijing over six months.
"Since it was the very first time that a huge portion of Korean filmmaking was done in China, our staff went through a whole lot of trial and error," said Lee. "Not to mention language barriers, there were lots of emergency situations caused by our ignorance of Chinese administration policies."
Lee explained the obstacles they faced.

"Once, we had to change the script, as we found out there was no shooting allowed in Tiananmen Square. Also we had to change the location for the shooting of a truck scene because city regulations did not allow trucks to pass on the main street of the city," he recalled.
Despite the troubles, the six months in China seem to have been a rewarding experience for 22-year-old main actor Kim Jae-won.

"I first expected I would spend two months in China. But the sudden SARS situation kept us stuck in Beijing for six months. Thanks to the extended stay, though, I gained a good rapport with all our actors and staff, and we became like a family," said Kim.

The show will offer Korean viewers a different experience: They will have to read subtitles to understand the Chinese dialogue, get to know Chinese cast members and get glimpses of Beijing. And the bonus is to look for the subtle cultural differences depicted in each episode.
Sun Peipei, a Chinese actress and a heroine in the drama, told the press a little about it. "I've heard eating tofu meant purifying your mentality after being imprisoned in Korean culture. In China, a man treating tofu to a woman means an implicit suggestion to have a physical relationship," said Sun after some shy laughs. "While shooting the drama, I had a really difficult time understanding the directly translated script.

With that, developing my character required a lot more struggle." Despite her humble confession, director Lee and co-star Kim spoke highly of Sun's talent. "As an actress, she is oh so smart. The language barrier didn't seem to affect her acting. I was really impressed," said director Lee.
The show will air in China starting June through CCTV. In Korea, the drama will air Mondays and Tuesdays at 9:50 p.m. on KBS 2TV.

The Source : CT News