SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

QUICK FACTS

Mainly about this series. If you have anything to add, from more production details or general info on the series or bloopers you know of, feel free to write them all using POST A COMMENT and I'll add them into here later.

English Title
War & Beauty

In Production Title
Palatial Sins, which to me is a better title

Chinese Title
Kam Chi Yuk Yip.

Kam Chi Yuk Yip in its original form is used to describe privileged girls or women living privileged lives, like princess or rich man's daughter so to speak. In today's world we can use this to describe girls living privileged life and well loved by their parents. Kam Chi Yuk Yip's literal translation is Golden Branch Jade Leaves. So you can imagine how shiny this tree is.

In this series, I was informed that Kam Chi is still the same as the original one as in Golden Branch. But intelligently the Yuk Yip which sounds the same as Jade Leaves actually meant Lust Sin. So Yuk is Lust, Yip is Sin. So if we rearrange the entire word the original title Palatial Sins would be just great. Or maybe Sinful Lust of the Golden Branches, so to speak or better yet, Lusty Sin of the Golden Branches which is really very different from the previous title. Anyway it means lust, sin in the world of privileged women that is our War & Beauty characters.

Very interesting title.

Also Known As
The undisputed Queen of all series in 2004, a mega hit by the way

No. of Episodes
30

Released In
2004

Broadcast by ASTRO Wah Lai Toi on
From 21.10.2005 (Friday) to 01.12.2005 (Thursday) at 9.30pm prime time

Special mention
ASTRO also broadcast the TMO of this series on 21.10.2005 at 10.30pm to 11.30pm. Read my not so faithful recap at Special : The Making Of

Awards Won
Thanks to Sehseh for the following info ...

2004 TVB Favorite Characters
Bowie, Moses, Gigi, Sheren and Charmaine

2004 TVB Favorite Male Actor
Bowie

2004 TVB Favorite Female Actor
Gigi

2004 TVB Extraordinary Actor
Chan Hung Lit

2004 TVB Extraordinary Actress
Sheren
Note : I think this used to be the Veteran award - Funn

Viewers' Statistics (HK)
Taken from maggiera.net

23/08/04 - 27/08/04 (epi 01-05) : average 30 points (high 32 points)
30/08/04 - 03/09/04 (epi 06-10) : average 31 points
06/09/04 - 10/09/04 (epi 11-15) : average 31 points (high 38 points)
13/09/04 - 17/09/04 (epi 16-19) : average 31 points
20/09/04 - 24/09/04 (epi 20-24) : average 32 points (high 34 points)
27/09/04 - 01/10/04 (epi 25-29) : average 32 points (high 36 points)
03/10/04 (epi 30-last episode) : average 39 points (high 41 points)


Where to purchase the VCD
Online is of course Yesasia.com. In Malaysia specifically KL you can find them at Speedy Video stores where each box set is divided into 15 episodes, each sold at around RM69-90 if I am not mistaken. Not cheap if you ask me. You have TWO box sets to buy, the only difference in the cover is the different colour tone of the wall you will see on the package.

Pictures
Of everything, from the series to themesong to trailers to official pictures, check out Sehseh's WAB page.

Even more bio on the entire series with special emphasis on Maggie Cheung since this is a Maggie Cheung fansite at maggiera.net (thanks to Anonymous for the link)

Official Website
Thanks to Sehseh for the link.

TVB.com

Brief History
The synopsis said "Fifteen years after Qing Emperor Jiaqing was crowned...". So on that basis I checked under the name of Emperor Jiaqing and indeed found this renowned Emperor, son of Qian Long. Check out his picture and brief history in the following websites, where the one markes with # is highly recommended. I will double check if the series is talking about this Emperor.

- Wikipedia #
Note : has his picture also so basically imagine THAT face with our lovely stars in this series. Reproduced here for your viewing pleasure...




- Biography.ms

4 comments:

da azn devil October 25, 2005 at 5:48 PM  

this series is indeed about emperor jia qing. from memory, not once was the emperor's name mentioned. one explanation can be the dubbing company didn't mention it, or the the series just didn't mention it at all.

the only way to know for sure is if you know your history. in episode 2, when eunuch chiu talks about he xin, then you know for sure that the emperor is indeed jia qing (and also because its reinforced in the summary).

just if your interested, there's a mainland series about qian long and he xin called 'double dragons'. the two roles of he xin were played by famous veteran actors zhang tie lin (qian long in hzgg) and wang kang respectively. another famous veteran zhang guo li is also in it. the series can show you the relationship that qian long and he xin shared. personally, i thought some parts of the series were dead stupid, but you can watch it if your interested.

da azn devil October 25, 2005 at 5:57 PM  

one more thing, this series won more awards than you mentioned.

those you've got are only the tvb ones.

wab as a series won some award for top 10 best shows in hk or something like that. i remember the news said that tv series don't normally win, and wab was like the first series to get it. you may want to check with someone like sehseh for the name of the actual award.

charmaine, gigi and sheren also won another award by metro television. charmaine's was called a "white award", while gigi and sheren won a "black award".

one fan explained that a white award means that you successfully portrayed a 'good' character, while black means that you successfully portrayed a 'bad/evil' character. kenneth chan also won a black award for his role in my date with a vampire 3.

i've got the picture of the three girls with their awards. i can send it to you if you want.

Funn Lim October 26, 2005 at 5:32 AM  

Can someone provide details on what da azn devil said above? Thanks!

sehseh November 1, 2005 at 11:07 PM  

She must be talking about the Phillips Black & White award. I will go home and look for the infos. They also won best series award for Next Magazine

NOTICE

SPOILERS alert!

All opinion remains my own

Episodic thought is a detailed recap/summary and short review of each episode (as I watch them) with a dash of my own unique way of writing (basically it means if you're not into opinion that may differ from yours, please do not continue reading.

Your comments are most welcomed. Do use Post A Comment for the appropriate episode. Do remember to bookmark the episode so you may refer back when someone replies to your comments (if any). When commenting, please observe the rules of decorum and common courtesy. If this is a new series, please avoid posting future spoilers in earlier episodes, however you may post speculations.

For your information

This series was first released in 2004 and was broadcast over at ASTRO Wah Lai Toi in 2005 on weekdays from Monday to Friday. These episodic thoughts were written during the broadcast period over at ASTRO on a daily basis and was completed when the series ended its run. Episodic Thoughts are episode summaries with review of each episode as I watch them and they are all written by me, Funn Lim. The comments are still open so do feel free to post your comments.

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