太極

A few days ago, I finished watching '太極' also known as 'The Master of Tai Chi', a TVB series of 25 episodes. As corny as the title makes it sound, it was the best TVB martial arts series I've ever watched or even just series in general. I completely fell in LOVE with 巫馬, the main character played by Vincent Zhao (Chiu Man-Cheuk/Zhao Wen Zhuo/damn all these names). Ahhhh, every time I see his face, I squeal a little and my insides flutter. Oh my god, I could stare at that man forever! I loved watching him grow and learn throughout the series - he's a beautiful character & not just physically haha.


The series itself was amazing. Filming was based in Shanghai and Kunming & Jianshui in Yunnan, where the landscape is incredible. The cinematography was UNBELIEVABLE. Every single scene was so thought out and planned precisely so that it always captured some spectacular view of the surroundings while telling the story at the same time. That's some fantastic directing right there. You don't normally see that kind of stuff in regular TVB dramas. '太極' was TVB's first series filmed in HD and they totally made use of that. Everything is GORGEOUS.


All the underlying themes of the story were brilliant. I especially liked the bits on the theory of Tai Chi. I really like the principle of the circle and also '四兩撥千斤', '借力打力', and '不刁不頂'. Besides the fact that they're fun to say, they make a lot of sense when when you think about it. I'm about to shut up about tai chi principles I know nothing about but I imagine they'd make sense in terms of physics (geek) and also applied to a person's outlook on life. I love it.



And finally, the whole point of this post was mainly just an excuse to search up & post pictures of this ridiculously good-looking man.

Oh my gad. He went to Beijing Sport University for wushu & is currently in LA learning English and working on Hollywood projects. He gives me stomach knots when he smiles. :)

(Photo credits: 1, 2)


浮生若水 by Raymond Lam
This is the theme song of '太極'. Beautiful song as well! They used it lot in each episode - it's very fitting.

I love this show SO MUCH. I want to watch it again RIGHT NOW. :(