Rosy Business

Rosy Business (Chinese: 巾幗梟雄; Cantonese Yale: Gān Gwok Hīu Hùhng) is a 2009 Hong Kong period television drama produced by Lee Tim-sing and TVB. Comprising 25 episodes, it original aired on the Jade network from 27 April to 29 May 2009. The final two episodes were aired back-to-back as a two-hour finale, including a cast interview with Scoop (東張西望).[2]

Rosy Business
Rosy Business official poster
Traditional巾幗梟雄
Simplified巾帼枭雄
Mandarinjīn guó xiāo xióng
Cantonesegan1 gwok3 hiu1 hung4
LiterallyVeiled Heroine, Ruthless Hero
GenrePeriod drama
Created byLee Tim-sing
Written byCheung Wah-biu
Chan Ching-yee
StarringSheren Tang
Wayne Lai
Ron Ng
Elliot Ngok
Kiki Sheung
Susan Tse
Kara Hui
Nancy Wu
Suki Chui
Ngo Ka-nin
Kelvin Leung
Henry Lee
Theme music composerYip Kai-chung
Tang Chi-wai
Opening theme"Red Butterfly" (紅蝴蝶) performed by Ron Ng
Country of originHong Kong
Original language(s)Cantonese
No. of episodes25
Production
Producer(s)Lee Tim-sing
Production location(s)Hong Kong
Camera setupMulti camera
Running time45 minutes
Production company(s)TVB
Release
Original networkJade
Picture format576i (SDTV)
1080i ()
Original release27 April –
29 May 2009
Chronology
Related showsNo Regrets (2010)[1]
No Reserve (2017)
External links
Website
Rosy Business
Title screen
Traditional Chinese巾幗梟雄
Simplified Chinese巾帼枭雄
Literal meaningVeiled Heroine, Ruthless Hero

Set in Eastern China during the mid-19th century, Rosy Business follows the mercantile Chiang family, owners of Wuxi's largest rice business Hing Fung Nin. After falling ill, patriarch Chiang Kiu temporarily hands over his leadership to his fourth wife Hong Po-kei, which incurs conflict with his other wives and sons. Meanwhile the impoverished coolie Chai Kau becomes an important figure in assisting Hong Po-kei in protecting the family business from crumbling during the Taiping Rebellion. The script was inspired by the successful Chinese television series The Grand Mansion Gate (Chinese: 大宅門).[3]

A commercial success, the final week of broadcast peaked at 47 TVRs[4] with 3 million live viewers,[5] becoming the second highest-rated television drama in Hong Kong of 2009. Rosy Business received twelve TVB Anniversary Award nominations and eight top 5 nominations, winning six of them, becoming the biggest winner of the year. The awards include Best Drama, Best Actress (Sheren Tang), Best Actor (Wayne Lai), Best Supporting Actress (Susan Tse), My Favourite Male Character (Lai) and Most Improved Male Artiste (Ngo Ka-nin). A sister production, No Regrets, was released in 2010.

Plot

In the mid-1830s, a natural disaster strikes the city of Nantong, tarnishing most of the city's rice fields. Running out of food supply, city mayor Hong Chi-wing (Wong Wai Leung) decides to use the city's military food supply to feed the people. A few days after the disaster, an official from Beijing arrives to the city to check the military supply, and upon seeing empty trailers, he sentences the Hong family to death. His daughter Hong Po-yin (Sheren Tang) escapes from punishment and becomes a maid in Prince Wai's mansion, living under the name Hong Po-kei.

Twenty years later, Po-kei reunites with the rich rice merchant Chiang Kiu (Elliot Ngok) at his manor in Wuxi, whom she was betrothed to before the disaster. Chiang Kiu's wife, Yan Fung-yee (Susan Tse) recognizes Po-kei and reveals her identity to Prince Wai, who was there for a visit. Kiu manages to convince the Prince to free her, and marries Po-kei as his fourth wife. Appreciating Po-kei's wisdom and persistence, he entrusts the business to her, with the reason that his eldest son, Bit-man (Ngo Ka-nin), is not yet ready to succeed him.

Hungry for power and eager to keep tradition, Fung-yee finds every opportunity for her son, Bit-man, to be the only heir of the family business. She attempts to strip Po-kei from power even when Chiang Kiu's final will reads that Po-kei should have the final call for the business.

Despite attacks from the family, Po-kei manages to keep the business in good shape. She is impressed with second son Bit-ching's (Ron Ng) intelligence and guides him to become the successor, but her efforts are met with Chai Kau's (Wayne Lai) challenges. Chai Kau seeks vengeance for being mistreated and wants a pay back from Bit-man and his uncle, Pang Hang (Henry Lee).

Chai Kau pledges his loyalty to Po-kei. With their excellent cooperation and quick thinking, the business manages to survive through the locusts disasters and the Taiping Rebellion.

Production

Development and concept

Before Lee Tim-shing began preparing for a new production, Sheren Tang approached Li and explained that she wanted to work on a drama with him. Eager to work with Lee, Tang said that she was willing to accommodate her schedules for the new production. Tang also suggested to work with Wayne Lai. Lee agreed to the project, and when both Tang's and Lai's scheduling were finalized, Lee began working on the production in early 2008. Along with producing coordinator Cheung Wah-biu, they submitted an initial script to Catherine Tsang, manager of TVB's production department. She was impressed with the script and development for the production formally began in July 2008.[6] A press conference and costume fitting for the cast was held on July 25, 2008 with the working title "Red Powder Merchant" (紅粉商人). Filming began August and ended four months later in November 2008 in Hong Kong. Lee explained that the production was temporarily called "Wives and Concubines" (妻妾成群) when the initial script was first submitted, but was later renamed to "Red Powder Merchant." Colleagues criticized the new working title, and Lee later finalized the official title to "Veiled Heroine, Ruthless Hero" (巾幗梟雄) and its official English title to Rosy Business. "Veiled Heroine" (巾幗) represented Tang's role of the fourth wife, while "Ruthless Hero" (梟雄) represented Lai's role 'Chai Kau'.[6] The drama was also sponsored by Bawang Shampoo.

Reception

Broadcast

The drama aired in TVB's main TVB Jade channel for five days a week, from April 27 to May 29, 2009, with a total of 24 episodes.[7] While production planned for 25 episodes, the two final episodes were aired together. A special Scoop celebration aired during commercial breaks, with the whole finale lasting for approximately two straight hours.[2]

Before the broadcast of grand production drama Beyond the Realm of Conscience, Rosy Business was 2009's most viewed drama, with an average rating of 33 points (2.1 million viewers) per episode.[8] The finale episode peaked to 47 rating points (3.3 million viewers; 3.4 million including TVB's HDTV sister channel), the second highest in 2009.[4][9][10] The highest peak of average ratings in one week reached to 42 points (2.8 million viewers), also the second highest in 2009.[11]

Critical reception

Rosy Business has received commercial and critical acclaim in Hong Kong. While ratings went to as high as 47 points, critics claim that if the points included the viewers who watched the drama through TVB's HDTV and other sister networks, the rating results may have been comparative to the viewership success of Moonlight Resonance and Korean drama Jewel in the Palace, in which both dramas reached to a rating of 50 points.[12] The roles of the "fourth wife" and "Chai Kau" propelled both Sheren Tang and Wayne Lai to stardom,[6] and both respectively won the title as Best Actress and Best Actor at the 2009 TVB Anniversary Awards.

However, Rosy Business aired in Mainland China with mixed reviews. Viewers expressed that the story was too similar to The Grand Mansion Gate, and claimed that Hong Kong script writers were beginning to lack creativity, having remade a few Mainland dramas already in the past.[3]

Cast and characters
Main article: List of Rosy Business characters

Sister production
Main article: No Regrets (TV series)
Title screen card taken from 2010 TVB Sales Presentation.

After the success of Rosy Business, TVB announced plans to produce a companion piece starring the original cast, slated to begin filming in March 2010.[13] However, Fala Chen and Raymond Wong Ho-yin were cast to replace Kiki Sheung, Ron Ng, and Suki Chui, who were reported to be not taking part in the production due to scheduling conflicts.

Tentatively titled Rosy Business II (巾幗梟雄之義海豪情), a sales presentation trailer of the drama featuring a majority of the original cast was filmed on October 25, 2009 in TVB's filming studio.[14] The three-minute trailer aired on the TVB Jade channel on December 6, 2009 to an overwhelmingly positive reception.[15] 50 random locals were interviewed in the streets, and 58% chose Rosy Business II as their most anticipated drama.[16] Several Mainland China news portals also listed Rosy Business II as one of the top 15 for most anticipating upcoming Hong Kong/Taiwanese dramas.[17]

The reboot will take place during World War II in Guangzhou, approximately 100 years after the events of Rosy Business. Li explained that Rosy Business II will take a darker route in introducing the main characters, having that Tang will portray a villainous role.[18] While the original did not have Tang and Lai dwell in a romantic relationship, the spin-off will concentrate on these developments, but it will merely be a side-story to the main plot.

Awards and nominations
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Rosy Business

Viewership ratings
Week Episodes Average points (peak) HK viewers
(in millions)		 References
1
 April 27 — May 1, 2009
1 — 5
28 (30)
1.78 (1.91)
 [19]
2
 May 4 — 8, 2009
6 — 10
30 (33)
1.91 (2.10)
 [20]
3
 May 11 — 15, 2009
11 — 14
32 (35)
2.04 (2.23)
 [21]
4
 May 18 — 22, 2009
15 — 19
35 (39)
2.23 (2.49)
 [22]
5
 May 25 — 28, 2009
20 — 23
39 (43)
2.49 (2.74)
 [23]
May 29, 2009
24
42 (47)
2.68 (3.00)
 [24]

References
  1. Yue Yun-Kuen (2009-07-11). "Wayne Lai vows to break 'Jewel in the Palace' ratings". Yahoo! HK Movies (in Chinese). p. 1. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  2. "'Rosy Business' party with 40 tables, Sheren Tang scared to kiss Wayne Lai". Sina (in Chinese). 2009-05-31. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  3. "TVB's version of The Grand Mansion Gate". Sina (in Chinese). 2009-05-05. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
  4. "Sheren Tang becomes TVB's "40 pt Queen" with five high-rating productions". Sina (in Chinese). 2009-06-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  5. "Chai Kau defeats Laughing Gor: 'Rosy Business' peaks at 47 points". Yahoo HK (in Chinese). 2009-06-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
  6. ""Chai Kau" also needs the help from "fourth wife" offscreen". Dayoo (in Chinese). 2009-05-30. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
  7. "Rosy Business Official Website". TVB (in Chinese). Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  8. "TVB loses creativity". YNET (in Chinese). 2009-11-24. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  9. "Finale of Rosy Business garnered 3 million viewers". TVB Forum (in Chinese). 2009-06-01. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  10. "Wayne Lai, Sheren Tang has hopes for TV crown". Sina (in Chinese). 2009-05-30. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
  11. "TVB Homepage". TVB (in Chinese). Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  12. "Chai Kau defeats Laughing Gor, original cast to film spin-off drama". QQ (in Chinese). 2009-06-03. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
  13. "Wayne leads original cast to film sequel". Oriental Daily (in Chinese). 2009-10-26. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
  14. "The fourth wife not scared of Sheh and Yeung". The Sun (in Chinese). 2009-10-26. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
  15. "Audiences choose 'Rosy Business II' as most-anticipated drama". Sina (in Chinese). 2010-01-15.
  16. "58% choose 'Rosy Business II'". Singtao (in Chinese). 2010-01-15. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
  17. "2010's Top 15 Anticipated Hong Kong/Taiwanese dramas". Shxb.net (in Chinese). 2010-01-17.
  18. "Sheren Tang and Wayne Lai continues their fate in Rosy Business". Xinhua (in Chinese). 2010-03-12. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
  19. Week 1 Ratings
  20. Week 2 Ratings
  21. Week 3 Ratings
  22. Week 4 Ratings
  23. Week 5 Ratings
  24. Finale Ratings
  • TVB.com Rosy Business - Official Website (in Chinese)
  • Batgwa.com - News on Costume Fitting (in English)
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