ASP News

Meteor Garden I & II

Asian fans all around the world, wether they are American-Asian, Canadian-Asian or Scandinavian-Asian, gather together to sing Liu Xing Yu (meteor rain) by F4. This song is not just some stupid theme song for some stupid cliché Taiwanese drama! This is the very first stupid theme song to the very first of all the exceedingly cliché Taiwan dramas! Therefore this song is stupidly important!!!

But what is Meteor Garden? Let me fill you in!

Meteor Garden is a Taiwanese drama from 2000. The plot revolves around a poor teenage girl called Shan Cai (Barbie Xu), whose parents have forced her into a university for rich people, with the dream of one day marrying her away to some rich kid; however Shan Cai isn’t a gold-digger. Besides her poor looks, Shan Cai is very different from the other girls at her school. She is a stubborn, hard working, strong-willed girl with a good heart and a fascinatingly strong persona; her name litterally means “mountain weed” which are tough small plants that almost survive all kinds of weather! Her university is dominated by a gang of handsome but arrogant students called F4 (The 4 Flower Boys, sounds much more masculine in mandarin!) who are the heirs of the most influential families in Taiwan. In the beginning, Dao Ming Si (Jerry Yan), the leader of F4, rules the school with an iron grasp. He seems to be a tough, know-it-all carefree playboy, but as one gets deeper into the plot one realizes that he is in fact just an immature, spoiled, naïve, and abandoned boy who uses his anger and money to hide his loneliness. At first he hates Shan Cai so much that he makes everyone in the university play tricks on her. But Shan Cai isn’t likely to give in like many others have. Shan Cai is a tough girl with a strong sense of principals; therefore she fights against F4′s “regime” and declares war upon F4 and especially on Dao Ming Si.  Because of her strong personality Dao Ming Si then becomes attracted to her and slowly falls in love with her. Although tough as a rock, when it comes to love Shan Cai is like any other girl: weak, naive, and fragile.

From the left: Jerry Yan playing Dao Ming Si, Vanness Wu playing Mei Zuo, Barbie Xu playing Shan Cai, Ken Zhu playing Xi Men and finally standing on the right side we have Vic Zhou aka Zai zai playing Hua Ze Lei.

But then there’s Huaze Lei. Hua zhe lei is said to have been a bit autistic in his childhood, therefore he is the most sensitive, introverted, and mysterious member of the F4. Because it’s hard for him to express himself trough words, he uses music meaning his violin to show his mood. Shan Cai finds him different from the rest of the group because he helped her while she was bullied and that’s why he’s the one whom she initially falls for! But Hua ze lei has always had a special bond with another girl named Jing, who is gorgeous, intelligent, rich, elegant, and also a supermodel. The bond they share is very rare, yet he has feelings for Shan Cai that he doesn’t understand; it seems to be a strong bond: not love, but not “just-friends” either. He doesn’t dare to show these uncertain feelings out of respect for he’s best friend Dao Ming Si.

In F4 there are also two playboys who every girl falls for. Mei Zuo who likes older women is one of the playboys and Xi Men, with all his supermodel girlfriends is the other playboy. He insists that the “expiry date” for each woman is a week; therefore he changes girlfriends every week.

But basically this is a story about two people who help each other grow towards being a better person. It also tells a story about two people from two completely different worlds who fall in love but has to go through a forest of obstacles to be able to be together! And as cliché as it might sound: love overcomes everything!

Because of the shows popularity, the four actors Jerry, Vanness, Ken and Vic made their own boy band and called it F4; how ironical is that!

Main Cast

Barbie Hsu” Barbie Hsu as Shan Cai

Jerry Yan as Dao Ming Si

Vic Zhou  as Hua Ze Lei

Ken Chu as Xi Men

Vanness Wu  as Mei Zuo

Notes

Based on the  Japanese  manga  Hana Yori Dango.

Began its broadcast  2001 on CTV

Meteor Garden was very popular in Asia. Due to the popularity of the series throughout Asia, two sequels,  Meteor Rain and  Meteor Garden II, were produced.

Episodes: 31

Theme song: Jue buneng shiqu ni (絕不能失去你) Can’t lose you F4

Ending song: Yanhuo de jijie (煙火的季節) The season of fireworks by  F4