'Lion Rock Spirit' drama to hail SAR's anniversary

Stories of Lion Rock Spirit, a television drama series about the resilient struggle for a better life by ordinary people in Hong Kong over the past three decades, will be telecast starting Monday as part of celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the special administrative region's return to the motherland.

The 27-episode series, reflecting Hong Kong's famous "Lion Rock Spirit", will be aired on Channel 77 of Hong Kong Open TV. It features a cast of local actors, including Myolie Wu Hang-yee, Aarif Lee Chi-ting and Tse Kwan-ho. Director Ng Gam-yuen and screenwriter Ella Chan Bo-wah are also from Hong Kong.

The Cantonese drama tells of a Chinese mainland-born woman who came to Hong Kong with her daughter in the 1980s to reunite with her husband. After he dies in an accident, the woman is forced to take on her husband's struggling restaurant business, whereby, supported by the staff and friends, she overcomes great odds to succeed.

The drama, aimed at showcasing the drastic changes that have taken place in Hong Kong in the past few decades, is coproduced by Hong Kong's Bauhinia Culture Group and two mainland companies. The TV series began airing on the mainland on June 12 in Mandarin. As of Sunday, the drama had scored 8.2 out of 10 in audience ratings on Tencent Video－one of the mainland's major video streaming platforms.

Speaking at a ceremony on Saturday to launch the TV series, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor noted that under the service trade agreement of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement－the first free trade pact between the SAR and the mainland－Hong Kong's film and television industry can now provide a wider range of professional services to the mainland market.

The drama has again demonstrated Hong Kong's advantages in providing professional services under the nation's overall development, she said.

A growing number of mainland-Hong Kong coproduced movies and television dramas have shown that such cooperation is fruitful, Lam said, adding that she hopes the film industry can make good use of the SAR's position as a hub for arts and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, which is highlighted in the nation's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).

The television drama's title and theme are reminiscent of the well-known Hong Kong TV series Below the Lion Rock, which was first telecast in the 1970s. It made the city's Lion Rock mountain a symbol of the "can-do" and "never-say-die" spirit of local residents.

Lam said people are Hong Kong's most valuable asset, adding she hopes that the new TV drama can also arouse and strengthen the people's affection for their home city.