First Episode 47: 俞净意公遇灶神记

[roddy]

A part of the Grand First Episode Project -- See this thread for more info.

VeryCD/Emule - Youku.

This is an odd one. It's a mere eight 45 minute episodes long, which is nothing for a Chinese TV show. And despite the period setting, it's a world away from the usual plot-fodder of magical kung-fu and court intrigue.

The story starts with our down-trodden, somewhat bitter, scholar 俞都 struggling against bad luck and poverty to prepare for the new year and making a somewhat grudgingly-offered sacrifice to the 灶神, or kitchen god. And guess who turns up at the door to give him a good talking to, and tell him to write down his life story so it can serve as a lesson to others? That's right, the 灶神. There's a brief telling of the tale here.

From then on the show is largely (I'm halfway through) shown in flashback, as we see the young 俞都 starting out as a cow-sitter, being taken in by the village teacher and rising to ace all his exams - and also become boastful and arrogant.

There's a lot of classical language in this - don't be surprised if entire conversations take place in four-character chunks. But the plot itself is extremely simple, so keeping track of what's going on shouldn't require major effort.

Production values are pretty basic, and the acting in particular can be weak, particularly with the child actors. But it's never hammy or over-blown, and I actually find it adds to the charm of a simple morality tale (unless the plot gets a lot more complex in the last four episodes, and he turns out to be the emperor's long-lost twin brother, or the kitchen god teaches him the secret of Hot Kettle Fist kung-fu).

If you're fed up with complex plots, character lists you need a personal organizer to keep track of and all that; or if you fancy exposing yourself to some classical language without committing to 60 episodes of something, give this a shot.

Edited February 9, 2010 at 02:17 PM by renzhe

[renzhe]

I agree with you, this is very atypical.

Language-wise, I found this very easy. Like you said, there are some classical-style phrases, but those were few, at least in the first episode. If not for those, I'd call this elementary, with them, it's lower intermediate. Very easy to follow.

I like the production values, it's not one of those historical shows with bright colours everywhere and happy street sellers sporting huge smiles in one big costume party. As a result, it really conveys the feeling of what life in the Ming dynasty might have looked like. The sets are really nice.

I noticed the traditional subtitles. Is this a Taiwanese production? Also, is it meant for children? I got that impression, but I get that impression about many Chinese shows

I might revisit this one later.

Edited July 2, 2009 at 12:19 PM by renzhe

[roddy]

Not sure, there's not much information about it. If you watch the opening credits (the verycd version only has them on the first episode) there's a Beijing company mentioned, and interestingly some of the people involved are 法师s. Made in 2006. But as you say, traditional subs.

It does have quite a children's / family viewing feel to it - you can imagine it being shown every Chinese New Year, and the whole family sitting down to watch it together whether they like it or not. This increases later on when we get flashbacks to his childhood and there's a lot of child actors about.

I only got up to episode 4. I'm planning to watch the rest, but it's not as if I need to go back and see how the cliffhanger turns out. I'll get around to it . . .

Glad someone else watched this. If you watch more you may find the language gets a bit harder - eg, when he and the Kitchen God are talking, the schoolhouse scenes, etc.

[renzhe]

If you watch more you may find the language gets a bit harder

Yeah, I can imagine that -- a lot of the first episode was him talking to street sellers, travellers and his family, so it's understandable that the language is quite simple.

It gets more difficult when he talks to other scholars, and there's probably more of that coming. The deities all tend to speak very classically too...

Made in 2006. But as you say, traditional subs.

And not just the subs, the credit sequence as well.

Then again, not a hint of dialectal accent, very proper putonghua. Taiwanese shows often have at least one actor with a Taiwanese accent.

Maybe it was a production for overseas Chinese or something? It does feel like it's meant to be educational, especially when the voiceover comes in with explanations.