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Movie: "Ben yüe" (2003)

“This dramatic serial is based on the amalgamation of two Chinese legends, “Chang Er Flies to The Moon” (a beautiful yet haunting tale), and “Hou Yi Shoots The Suns” (a heroic yet tragic legend). In fact, the Chinese custom of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month originated from both legends. By building on and making inferences from these two popular legends, this 30-episode period drama with romance and action has been created. Our story starts with an introduction to Liu An, a prince in the Han dynasty, whose interests in myths and legends sparked a desire desire to pen down the beautiful love story of Chang Er and Hou Yi. Legend has it that the Heavenly Jade Emperor has an extra-marital affair which resulted in the birth of Chang Er. In order to appease the Heavenly Empress Xi He, he gives her all authority over the love affairs in heaven. Hou Yi is a Heavenly Archer who is upright and righteous albeit rather tactless. As a result of his lack of EQ, he is banished to the Earth to help the common folk. There, he gets adopted into an earthly family and learns to appreciate human relationships and love. Meanwhile in the moon, the moon fairy Chang Er is getting bored. When Dragon escaped from heaven to create havoc on Earth, she eagerly volunteered to help recapture Dragon. However, this enthusiasm is dampened by Hou Yi’s blunt remarks about her being na?ve and ignorant of the beauty of love found on Earth as well as the plight that Dragon has put humans in. Determined to prove Hou Yi wrong, she leaves her moon palace and descends to the Earth secretly. In working together with Hou Yi to help the villages fight against Dragon, Chang Er and Hou Yi develop mutual affections for each other. However, Hou Yi’s earthly brother Feng Yi also falls for Chang Er. Chang Er’s friend Luo Pin, who is the daughter of Immortal Fu Xi, is also mesmerized by Hou Yi. To make the four-sided relationship even more complicated, Xi He finds out about Chang Er and Hou Yi’s relationship and is bent on separating them. Coupled with her Sun Crown Prince’s deep hatred for Hou Yi, they begin their horrid plans to make the two lovers suffer. The plans culminated into a plot to destroy Earth and to re-create a new one. The ten Sun Princes appear in the sky together to bring the earth to an unbearable scorching temperature. In order to save humankind, Hou Yi and Chang Er must obtain the Fiery Bow and Ice Arrow from the hottest and coldest parts of Heaven and Earth simultaneously. But to do so, they have to take the elixir of two extremes respectively to protect themselves from the elements. This elixir will also result in the two lovers being separated forever. Written by Anonymous”

• Release Date: 4 August 2003 (Taiwan)
• Run Time: 45 min (30 episodes)
• Country: China , Singapore , Taiwan
• Genre: Drama , Fantasy , Romance

Trivia: Filmed in the harsh end-2002 winter of Hebei, Northern China, where the temperature reached a chilling -17 degrees Celsius.