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The Good Old Days (再见艳阳天)

The Good Old Days (再见艳阳天), originally titled Qing Ding Yan Yang Tian (情定艳阳天), is a 106-episode Hong Kong television drama produced by Asia Television (ATV) and first broadcast on 15 April 1996. Directed by Yip Chiu-yi (叶昭仪), Cheng Wai-man (郑伟文), and Li Wai-chu (李慧珠), it stars Amy Chan (陈秀雯), Ma Jingtao (马景涛), and Sheren Tang (邓萃雯) in a family romance set against the Northern Expedition and the War of Resistance from the 1920s to the 1940s.1

Key factDetail
Original run15 April 1996 on ATV Hong Kong; aired Monday to Friday, 10 to 11 pm1
Length106 episodes of about 43 minutes each; some listings give 1051 • 2
GenreDrama, romance, historical legend; in Cantonese1
Main castAmy Chan, Ma Jingtao, Sheren Tang, Gilbert Lam, Maggie Shiu, Kiki Sheung, Paul Chun Pui, Nina Paw, Lee Heung-kam1 • 3
AwardsAmy Chan won ATV's Best Actress award in 1996; the series placed tenth in the 1997 壹电视大奖 top-ten television programs1
Audience scoreDouban 7.8 out of 10, from about 4,200 raters1
RemakesA 32-episode mainland remake aired on Anhui TV from 22 March 2011; the 2004 series Love in a Miracle (爱在有情天) is also described as a reworking4 • 5

Spoilers

Plot

The story centers on the wealthy Fang family during the warlord era and the years of Japanese invasion. The ailing matriarch Jiao Yuqing (焦玉卿, played by Nam Hung) arranges a "chrysanthemum-pressing" marriage to hasten her recovery: her eldest son Fang Hesheng (方贺生, Ma Jingtao) is married to Xie Xiuqiao (谢秀巧, Amy Chan), a poor farm girl who has come to work for the family. Hesheng, however, already loves Zhang Wenfeng (张文凤, Sheren Tang), whom he met while studying in the provincial capital, and the two live as a couple in name only.7

Hesheng joins the Northern Expedition and disappears, leaving his fate unknown. Xiuqiao, showing the generosity that defines her character, takes in her husband's lover Wenfeng. Her friend Shi Peipei (石佩佩, Kiki Sheung), forced to become a warlord's concubine, escapes and eventually becomes the third wife of the family patriarch Fang Shifan (方世藩, Paul Chun). As the family's fortunes decline and the fabric business is sold, Xiuqiao and the household survive by street vending until they can buy the shop back.7

Hesheng is not dead but has lost his memory, and he forms a relationship with the army nurse Ding Min (丁敏, Maggie Shiu). Years later Xiuqiao finds him and restores his memory; Ding Min marries into the Fang family but cannot fit in, leaves Hesheng, and later falls in love with his comrade Luo Ping (洛平, Michael Huang) in Shanghai. During the eight years of war, Hesheng, Wenfeng, Ding Min, and Luo Ping all join the resistance against the Japanese invasion.7 A synopsis circulated with the 2010 remake adds that Xiuqiao, hearing Hesheng had died in battle, declined the affections of his younger brother Hewen (贺文, Gilbert Lam).8

Episode count and dating discrepancies

Chinese database listings disagree on the episode count: Baidu Baike and Factpedia give 106 episodes, while the Chinese encyclopedia mirror, the Newikis article, and TVB's myTV SUPER listing give 105.1 • 2 • 7 The end date of the original run is likewise given as 6 September 1996 by Moviefone and 20 September 1996 by Newikis.3 The premiere date of 15 April 1996 is consistent across all sources.

Production

The series was produced and released by Asia Television Limited (ATV), with Yang Shaohong (杨绍鸿) as executive producer and scripts by Zhong Zhengliang (钟政良), Yu Dewei (余德伟), and Chan Sap-sum (陈十三).1 It was one of the 1996 Hong Kong-mainland co-productions, and a Sichuan newspaper retrospective later described it as one of ATV's more strongly cast 1990s dramas and the longest of the station's regular series that decade.1 • 6

The theme song "Yan Yang" (艳阳) and the insert songs were sung by lead actress Amy Chan herself; the insert song "Bu Ru Bu Shuo" (不如不说) was performed by Chui Kei (巫奇).1

Cast

The principal roles and their actors, as listed by Moviefone and the Chinese encyclopedic sources:3 • 1

Broadcast and reception

The drama ran on ATV from 15 April 1996, airing Monday to Friday in the 10 to 11 pm slot; one database records the run ending on 20 September 1996, while Moviefone gives 6 September.3 ATV rebroadcast the series in 2007 and 2014, sold the broadcasting rights to rival TVB in 2015, and the series appeared on TVB's myTV SUPER streaming platform with all episodes.7 On the mainland it aired on Guangdong's Pearl River channel with an average rating of 1.7 and a peak of 3.2.1

At the 1996 ATV awards ceremony, Amy Chan won Best Actress for playing Xie Xiuqiao, and the same year she was voted most popular television actress in RTHK's "Entertainment Star" poll. In 1997 the series ranked tenth in the 壹电视大奖 ten-best television programs. On Douban it holds 7.8 out of 10 from roughly 4,200 users.1 When ATV ceased broadcasting in 2016, retrospectives of the station's classic dramas included the series.1

Remakes

In August 2009, Beijing Zijingquan Culture Communication announced a new version, and in December 2010 the producer condensed the original 106 episodes into 32. The remake, starring Bao Jianfeng (保剑锋) as Hesheng, Sun Li (孙莉) as Xiuqiao, and Zhang Dinghan (张定涵) as Ding Min, premiered on Anhui Television on 22 March 2011 with simultaneous streaming on PPTV, and topped ratings in several regional markets including Guangzhou, Chongqing, and Shanghai.1 • 4

The remake kept the old story framework but reduced the themes of national and family calamity in favor of the love stories, drawing criticism from the New Express that it resembled a Qiong Yao romance, while Sina Entertainment praised its tighter pacing and more polished visuals. On Douban it scores 6.8 from 540 raters, well below the original.4 When the remake aired on Southern Television in 2010, fans of the original cast, particularly of Amy Chan and Maggie Shiu, contested the new actors' portrayals; Chan had said she moved to ATV precisely to play Xiuqiao, a role the station built around her.9 An earlier reworking, Love in a Miracle (爱在有情天), co-produced by ATV with Dalian Radio and Television and starring Ma Jingtao and Amy Chan again, aired on the mainland in 2004.5

References

  1. 再见艳阳天（1996年马景涛、陈秀雯主演电视剧）, Baidu Baike
  2. 再見艷陽天（1996年馬景濤、陳秀雯主演電視劇）, 中文百科全書
  3. The Good Old Days (1996), Moviefone
  4. 再见艳阳天（2010年赖水清执导的民国爱情剧）, Baidu Baike
  5. 爱在有情天, 快懂百科
  6. 亚视停播，那些年陪伴我们成长的经典港剧, 川观新闻 (2016)
  7. The Good Old Days, myTV SUPER
  8. 《再见艳阳天》第31集剧情简介, HuashiTV on YouTube
  9. 《再见艳阳天》角色惹争议 张定涵孙莉褒贬不一, Sina Entertainment (2010)

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › Hong Kong and Taiwanese serial drama

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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The Good Old Days (再见艳阳天)

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