A Kindred Spirit

Disambiguation: you may be looking for Northern New Jersey Celtic band "Kindred Spirit" or the phrase 'kindred spirits' as used in Anne of Green Gables.

A Kindred Spirit is someone who shares similar thoughts, feelings, someone who is close in temperament and nature to yourself, to whom you have a rare spiritual link that is very special and you can't quite explain.

A Kindred Spirit (真情) was a television drama series that was broadcast on TVB Jade in Hong Kong from May 15, 1995 to November 11, 1999. It is one of the longest running drama shows in Hong Kong television history (the longest being the sitcom Hong Kong 81 series). Its exceptional longevity still amazes people in a city where scripted TV drama programs typically only last around 20 episodes, with the show running daily. The total number of episodes is 1,128.

The show centres on a family who operates a barbecue pork (char siew) restaurant in Happy Valley, Hong Kong.

Non-Exhaustive Character List

Lee Family (Main Family)

Core Family Members

• Bing (Full name Lee Biu Bing, often called Char Siu Bing by his family members. Played by Lau Dan)- The head of the family who operates the restaurant and makes Chinese BBQ food for a living. Bing's parents died at a young age and he had to take care of his sister Choi Yui by working as an apprentice Chinese BBQ shop butcher.
• Auntie Shin (Full name Leung Yun Shin. Played by Tan Ah Him)- Wife of Bing. A typical housemaker who took care of her children carefully and fed them for many years. Auntie Shin is often the voice of reason and is the confidant of several characters in the series.
• Grandma Ga (Full name Nguyen Men Guen. Played by Mrs Ramalingam nee Lai Je)- Auntie Shin's mother, known for her feistiness and hard-to-get-along characteristics.
• Leung Yao (Played by the late Kwan Hoi Shan)- Long lost husband of Grandma Ga, who ran away to Vietnam long ago and was eventually reunited with his wife. He had an affair with a Vietnamese woman during the time he was away from his father. He secretly has a son.
• Yun Choi (Played by Lao Nam Kwong- Leung Yao and Grandma Ga's son, Auntie Shin and Auntie Ho's brother, who has a shop selling watches and clocks in Canada. He has a wife who is half-Caucasian, and a rebellious teenage daughter. He went back to Canada with his family after Dai Ma and her husband left the show.
• Fuk (Full name Lee Zhi Fuk. Played by Chang Chi Kwong)- Son of Bing and Auntie Shin. He is the only uneducated son in the family due to a lack of financial resources, and this has made Auntie Shin and Bing feel guilty from time to time. He helps out his parents in their restaurant. His wife Wing Kum is highly protective of him and their son, Lok Lok. His gullibility has led him into troubles in the series from time to time, including getting married to his second wife (A scheming woman from the mainland) after Wing Kum died.
• Wing Kum (Full name Chan Wing Kum. Played by Louisa So)- The daughter-in-law of the Lee family. Wing works at a spa and is sometimes giving facials. She died after donating her liver to her son Lok Lok. Her death was an extremely tragic arc in the show, even more so than Choi Yiu's death.
• Lok Lok - Talented son of Fuk and Wing Kum. Grandson of Bing and Auntie Shin.
• Sei Ma (literally the little twin, full name Lee Daw Yun. Played by Florence Kwok) - One of the two twin daughters of Bing and Shin. She holds a high position at a bank, and is married to a wealthy businessman who went broke in the middle of the series. She is also a mother of a young daughter, Puet Puet. She is sometimes a bit demanding, although she is well-liked by all the members of the family. (As contrasted with her twin sister, whom Bing dislikes.) She had problems with her "Upper-class Mother-in-law" and sister-in-law at the beginning of the series, especially when she was on the verge of having a divorce with Ching Hwa.
• Dai Ma (literally the elder twin, full name Lee Daw Foon. Played by Kenix Kwok) - The other twin daughter of Bing and Shin who Sei Ma is intensely jealous of. Her fiercely independent nature led her to leave the family years ago to pursue her own overseas studies. Upon returning to HK, she worked in a fashion company with her brother. She left early in the series, after getting married to an ex-policeman Bong and migrating to the UK. She is remembered for her stubbornness (some would call it determination).
• On Jai (Andy) (Full name Lee Zhi On. Played by Hawick Lau)- The youngest son of Bing and Shan, he is a college grad who works in the same company as his sister Dai Ma. His good looks often gets him into a lot of love entanglements. His love affair with Joan, the sister of his boss stretches through the entire series. He gets involved in a love triangle with Joan and a spiteful girl Joon Joon at the end of the series, before finally marrying Joan in the finale. (His dad on the show is actually his real dad)
• Vietnamese (Played by Wong Tak Bun) - Leung Yao's long-lost illigetimate son from Vietnam. Sensible and hardworking, he resembles Auntie Shin in character more than his half brother Yuen Choi and half sister Auntie Ho. He appears at the end of the series to acknowledge Leung Yao as his father, and has a turbulent relationship with an intelligent and pretty doctor, Chiu, who is the elder sister of Joon Joon.
• Auntie Yung (Played by Tam Sin Hung)- Has served the family, in particular Grandma Ga, for decades in silence. The Lee family treats her as if she is a part of the family.
• Hoi (Full name Yung Heung Hoi. Played by Ben Wong)- Adopted son of Auntie Yung. His biological mother, from whom he was separated from during a big fire in the city slum, is the wife of a wealthy Malaysian Chinese tycoon. Hoi eventually is a part owner in a construction material company.
• Choi Yiu (Full name Lee Choi Yiu. Played by Angie Cheung) - First wife of Hoi; Bing's younger sister. She has a close and affectionate bond to her niece Dai Ma, who is of a very similar temperament. Initially a wild and irresponsible unmarried mother, she left HK in the early part of the series to seek help in curing her Stomach Cancer. Upon returning, Hoi was in a relationship with Auntie Ho's daughter Seung-Seung. She married Hoi eventually, and changed into a loving and caring wife and mother, but most unfortunately died during a bandit attack in Mainland China. Hoi takes care of Choi Yiu's young daughter after Choi Yiu's death.
• Gwai (Full name Ng Fong Gwai. Played by Angie Cheung)- Second wife of Hoi, who looks very similar to Choi Yiu (in fact, the two characters were played by the same actress, who needed a break from the show during its production). She became Bing's god-sister, before marrying Hoi. Her questionable (some say downright lacking) ethics have brought her into various disputes throughout the series.
• Keng (Full name Yu Keng. Played by Yuen King Dan)- Auntie Yong's long-lost daughter, who eventually married the eldest son of Datuk Gui. Her mental capacity was impaired after a serious illness in her youth, leading her to be called "Idiot Keng" as a running gag. Keng and Gwai were brought up by the same foster mother.
• Bong (Full name Fung Chun Bong. Played by Sunny Chan)- Da Ma's husband,whom is an ex-policeman .

Lau Family (Upper Class In-Laws)

• Ching Hwa (Played by Law Siu Kwan)- The husband of Sei Ma. He is a philandering wealthy businessman who was victimized by a business partner jealous of his marriage to Sei Ma. He went broke as a result, but managed to salvage his broken marriage with Sei Ma. He set up a business with Hoi after his bankruptcy, and returned to wealth.

• The Upper Class In-Law (Played by Gung Yu)- Ching Hwa's mother. Although her real name is not well known, she is widely remembered in the series as the upper-class person because of her initial discriminatory view towards less wealthy persons, in addition to commoner cultures and customs that she considered as "undesirable" for she and her aristocratic cabals. The attitudes, however, somewhat subsided after the family went broke.

• Ching Wun- Rich, initially snobbish, and highly educated, Ching Wun's love for Dai Sing was strong enough for her to decide to leave her upper-class life behind to marry Dai Sing, who couldn't provide much for her and their two children. She had to work in Sei Ma's bank as a teller eventually to support her own family, after having spent her whole life living off her rich Upper-Class Mother and brother Ching Hwa. Dai Sing and her would provide lots of comic relief sporadically throughout the series.

• Dai Sing (Full name Chan Dai Sing. Played by Ngan Kwok Leung) - Elder brother of Wing Kum, who did some time in prison for a crime that he wasn't guilty of before he appears on the show. He has since operated a tea stand in the restaurant. He is best remembered for his marriage (And turbulent married life) to Upper-class In-law's highly educated and feisty daughter, Ching Wun. Dai Sing and Ching Wun have a son and a daughter.

• Melvin - The Upper Class In-Law's younger brother would return from Canada a few years after his wife, Vicky, runs away with all his money. Melvin is a photographer and later gets a job as a fashion photographer at Helen's clothing company and works with On Jai. At first Melvin and Auntie Ho do not get along, but the two later have a brief romance. Auntie Ho calls Melvin "mao see", literary "cat poop".

• Sharon - Sharon, who is Melvin's daughter, was blinded during childhood and is able to regain her sight after Auntie Ho's son, Lap Sang, performs eye surgery on Sharon. She therefore falls in love with Lap Sung and marries her, but unfortunately the marriage was extremely ill-fated and ended up with the death of Rebecca, Sharon's miscarriage and loss of memory, and Lap Sung becoming a cripple. She gets her happy ending eventually though, after regaining her memories, and ends up with a promising young student back in New York (US) named Samson, who ironically is a medical student.

• Sophie Upper Class In-law and Melvin's younger cousin. The mother of the obnoxious May May, and the second wife of the rich and nasty Datuk Gui. May May and her were chased out of Datuk Gui's family when Datuk Gui found out that May May wasn't his own biological daughter. Years later, just when Datuk Gui was finally going to forgive her, she gets involved in a horrible car accident that killed her right before she could reunite with Datuk Gui.

Auntie Ho Family

• Auntie Ho (Full name Leung Yun Ho. Played by Nancy Sit)- Leung Yao and Grandma Ga's younger daughter and sister of Auntie Shin and Yuen Choi. She was sold by her parents to an old Mainland Chinese while they were in financial trouble a long time ago. Auntie Ho, therefore, bears a significant grudge against her parents and resent them for neglecting her when she was younger in favour of Shin and Choi (this eventually subsided though). She is quite feisty and works in many different occupations. Her love interests include Melvin, aka "mao see" (literally cat poop) (Upper Class in law's younger brother), Biu-Lang-Hon (Bing's elder brother), and a doctor, Shan Qing, whose characteristics is not very different from Seymour Skinner on US Cartoon Series The Simpsons.

• Lap Sang (Full name Tong Lap Sang. Played by Marco Lo)- The most educated person in the family and is the son of Auntie Ho and her long-lost lover (who is a scammer). This biological father of his tried to expose his true identity as a son born out of wedlock but failed. When Lap Sang returns from medical school in the UK, he is romantically linked to Rebecca (often called "Banana" by Auntie Ho). Eventually, Lap Sang marries Melvin's daughter, Sharon, after Sharon gets pregnant. Rebecca is twisted and jealous and sets up to ruin Lap Sang and Suet. He is a doctor who eventually was convicted of manslaughter and served time in prison. Since that time, he went through a transformation and rehabilitated his reputation. He is remembered for his romance with a social worker, whose trials and tribulations was portrayed right up to the end of the series. This social worker, Jing, became his second wife.

• Jing- A social worker who has a slightly turbulent courtship with Lap Sung. She eventually becomes pregnant with his baby. During her pregnancy, she is beaten into a coma by the lover of Fuk's scheming second wife, who married Fuk only because she was after the family's money. Jing eventually woke up from her coma and became Lap Sung's second wife. (His first wife was Upper-class In-law's niece, Sharon)

• Seung Seung (Full name Tong Lai Seung. Played by Law Lum)- Step-sister of Lap Sung. She is the daughter of Auntie Ho and her husband, a rich doctor. Once sold into an arranged marriage by Auntie Ho, Seung Seung's first love was Hoi, even though Hoi had already been courting Choi Yiu for many years while they were growing up in the Lee family. Hoi, however, never took a chance with her, and Seung Seung eventually married Kwok Qiu, an elderly doctor, and left for the US. Seung Seung and Hoi had a baby, whom she cannot bring herself to acknowledge. Hoi and Choi Yiu, and later Gwai after Choi Yiu's death, would take care of this child, treating him like their own.

• Principal In-law The hard-to-get-along, highly principled without being nasty or unreasonable retired principal who eventually became Auntie Ho's mother-in-law. Grandma hates her because of how she refused to allow Auntie Shin to date Principal Gao's son Shan Tseng many years ago while they were neighbours.

• Shan Tseng Auntie Ho's husband. Old and unmarried; very afraid and controlled by his own mother Principal Gao, he eventually falls in love with Auntie Ho after a long period of time where they would tease and squabble with each other. It took a long time for Principal Gao to finally allow him to marry Auntie Ho, and it is ironic because of what happened in the past with Auntie Shin and Grandma.

• Ya Mun Shan Tseng's step-sister. A very capable businesswoman with business dealings with Hoi and Ching Hwa. She got into a breakdown after finding out that her boyfriend was gay, and that her real mother wasn't Principal Gao, but someone else who died many years ago. She finds solace with Hoi, who was having serious problems with his marriage to Gwai at that time. In the grand tradition of the show, she leaves HK for a better life, thus making an exit from the messy love triangle and the show.

Extended Family Members

• Biu Lang Han (Nickname. Real name Lee Biu Han. Played by Kenneth Tsang)- Step-brother of Bing and Choi Yiu. He came to Hong Kong from the Mainland in the middle of the show, and brought along three grown-up children. He had a major misunderstanding with Bing and Choi Yiu years ago when Bing and Choi Yiu's father left them and their mother for Biu Han's mother, but the issue was eventually resolved. Biu Han had a short romance with Auntie Ho, but left HK after he realised that Auntie Ho's true love was not him, but Melvin.

• Ji Ho (Full name Lee Ji Ho. Played by Chang Tse Sheng)- The most memorable villain of the story. He came to Hong Kong along with Biu Lang Han, but he is the biological son of Auntie Yung. Greed drove him to commit unthinkable deeds, even the destruction of his own family. Ji Ho's death was one of the most celebrated events in the show's long history, and was well remembered by many people. This character is so successful that the actor who played this character has never played a protagonist in any movies or drama shows ever since Ji Ho's much celebrated death.

• Siu Mui (Full name Lee Siu Mui. Played by Lam Yi Kei)- The sister of Ji Ho. Siu Mui is somewhat the personification of Mainlander Chinese stereotypes in Hong Kong at the time: old-fashioned, poor fashion tastes, speaks Cantonese with an accent, and lives with a housewife mentality. Aunt Ho helps Siu Mui speak better Cantonese after several other people make fun of Siu Mui's accent. Siu Mui was eventually attached to a chauvunistic Martial Arts mentor Mok. (Jing's elder brother; Dai Sing and Wing Kum's childhood neighbour.)

• Ji Lik (Full name Lee Ji Lik. Nickname Tai Lik ("Strong") Played by Wei Ga Hung)- The little brother of Ji Ho. He is a rather nerdy character, and had a minor role in the show, besides having a brief ambiguous relationship with Keng while Keng's true love Loi was away. After Ji Ho's death, Ji Lik went to Shanghai to start a business and transformed into a successful and confident businessman.

Datuk Gui Family

• Datuk Gui An elderly authoritarian and nasty figure from a rich Malaysian family, he ends up being very acquainted with the Lee family whom he used to consider low class when his children get romantically involved with the people from the Lee family. He has two wives, one the understanding, elegant and compassionate mother of Ya Num [Officially his second wife, because his first wife died), the other, the much younger (sometimes refered to as his mistress), initially wild and flamboyant mother of May May, Sophie.
• Ya Loiplayed by lui fong The eldest son of Datuk Gui. Romantic and irreverent, with a flair for music, he has an extremely turbulent relationship with Keng when he first meets her after running away to HK to avoid getting married to someone his father arranged for. After nearly getting killed by Keng's evil brother Ji Ho, he leaves HK and Malaysia to Vienna where he spent years recovering from his emotional wounds with Keng until the end of the series, where he eventually returns and gets married to Keng.
• Ya Num The second son of Datuk Gui. Stepbrother of Ya Loi. Handsome, smart, capable, he is the perfect man for many. He gets into a love triangle with Hoi and Gwai while working in HK, but Gwai dumped him on the day of their wedding and chose to marry Hoi instead. Ya Num gets his happy ending with the sweet and lovely Ah Muen, who happens to be Ji Ho's ex-girlfriend.
• May May- Spoilt rich daughter of another Malaysian Chinese Tycoon, Datuk Gui, May May turned out to be the illegitimate daughter of Datuk Gui's second wife and another businessman. Best known for her marriage to the main villain of the story, Ji Ho. She became Auntie Yung's unreasonably demanding daughter-in-law. Her feistiness is paralleled only by that of Grandma Ga. She meets her match eventually with Chiu and Joon Joon's brother, the eccentric (And equally fesity) Law Sun Moon.

Other characters

• Helen- Director of a clothing company that Dai Ma and her little brother works in. Her sister, Joan, is entangled in a love affair with Dai Ma's little brother, On Jai. Helen works very hard to build her business and raise Joan. Helen and Keng work together to get money back from a con artist.
• Joan- Girlfriend of On Jai. Their on again, off again relationship is very rocky, and Joan did date a wealthy businessman (who is secretly May May's biological father) during the series because of his wealth. The businessman eventually fell in love with her elder sister, Helen. That created another set of comical problems towards the end of the series
• Guy Kwan- Owner of the poultry store that supplies the restaurant with chickens. Guy Kwan is a friend of Fuk and Dai Sing and has a crush on Keng. He also has a gambling addiction and often gets in trouble with loan sharks.

As the show progressed, more and more new characters were added into the show, as in a soap opera. The show finally ended in November 11, 1999 with a lavish goodbyes that included all the actors who participated in the show from past and present.

Impact on Hong Kong Culture

The show's impact on Hong Kong culture is immense, although its influence is fading away as new series are being aired. Everyone can remember the approximate arc of the story and most can sing the theme song.

The impact of the show on its cast is enormous, some actors have suffered a form of "curse" from the series, being that they can never break out of their mould that were set during this series. A good example listed earlier is the actor who played Ji Ho in the series. His performance on the series was so convincing and memorable that it has prevented him from playing heroes or protagonists since his run on the show was ended.

Kindred Spirit is shown in the US on Directv's TVB Jade TV on weekdays, and is also rerun in Hong Kong on TVB's Grand Theatre Channel, which belongs to TVB's new pay television services.

The show aired in Canada via Fairchild TV.