When Easterly Showers Fall on the Sunny West (2008)

Intro:

When Easterly Showers Fall on the Sunny West (Traditional Chinese: 東山飄雨西關晴) is a Hong Kong TVB period drama series broadcasting from October till December 2008. Story takes place in the early 1930s in the city of Guangzhou (China) and revolved around the rich and prestigious Poon family. TVB's poetically titled 2008 anniversary drama When Easterly Showers Fall on the Sunny West sets the stage for family struggle, romantic conflict, and financial strife in the turbulence of early 20th century China. Veteran actress Liza Wang leads the cast of this 30-episode grand drama, along with top TVB stars Joe Ma and Charmaine Sheh as the story's fated couple. The cast includes new-generation stars Raymond Wong, Edwin Siu, Natalie Tong, Selena Li, and Zac Kao as well as character actors Evergreen Mak, Cheung Kwok Keung, Kiki Sheung, amd Kwok Fung. In her youth, Poon clan matron Fung Yee (Liza Wang) abandoned her baby son to hide the stigma of giving birth out of wedlock. Years later, her son Hing (Joe Ma) has grown up through tough circumstances, and ends up working as a chauffeur for the Poon family after saving his brother Wah (Raymond Wong) by chance. When Hing's identity is revealed, his status as Poon family's eldest son is restored, throwing the family into a state of turbulent ambivalence. Wah's relationship with poor girl Ching (Charmaine Sheh) also heads for the rocks because of his mother's disapproval, but Hing grows closer to Ching while helping her set up her own shop. When the Poons hit on difficult times, Hing steps up to save the family business, starting off a new round of conflict and power struggle. Coming from a very humble background, POON MUK HING (Ma Tak Chung) nevertheless is content with his lot. He works for the POONs of Dongshan as driver. His true identity of the eldest son of the family comes to light when he saves POON CHEUK WAH (Wong Ho Yin), the young master, in an accident. CHONG FUNG YEE (Wang Ming Chun, Liza), the first daughter-in-law in the family, has to admit unwillingly the fact that when she married into the family she was already pregnant. His true identity revealed, HING changes his name to POON CHEUK HING according to the genealogical table of the clan. The mother and son have since been locked in a seesaw struggle. YIP HEUNG CHING (Charmaine Sheh) came from an influential family in Xiguan. She starts selling congee on a boat for a living with her elder brother after their family has fallen into decline. CHING and WAH used to go out but YEE did all she could to separate them. Later, CHING opens a teahouse with the help and support of HING. Spontaneously, love blossoms between them. Not long afterwards, the Poon family runs into a lot of troubles. YEE and WAH are unable to handle them at all. HING seizes the opportunity to restore the prestige of the family. For the sake of the benefit of POONs, he is prepared to sacrifice his relationships with other family members, his love as well as his friends. By doing so, he also involves himself in a never-ending bloody battle of power...