# To Be or Not To Be (来生不做香港人)
**To Be or Not To Be** (来生不做香港人) is a 25-episode Hong Kong television drama produced by Hong Kong Television Network (HKTV) and first broadcast on 12 December 2014. Under its former and overseas title *Hakka (Chinese ethnic subgroup with its own language) Women* (客家女人), it follows two sisters separated in childhood, one raised in a Hakka village in Dongguan and the other in Hong Kong, whose reunion frames three decades of change in the relationship between Hong Kong and mainland China.[1](https://mcihk2015.blogspot.com/2015/03/online-review-to-be-or-not-to-be.html) • [2](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/to-be-or-not-to-be-1) • [3](https://etvhk.fandom.com/wiki/%E4%BE%86%E7%94%9F%E4%B8%8D%E5%81%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 来生不做香港人 (To Be or Not To Be); former and overseas title 客家女人 (*Hakka Women* / *Hakka Sisters*)[3](https://etvhk.fandom.com/wiki/%E4%BE%86%E7%94%9F%E4%B8%8D%E5%81%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA) |
| Production | Hong Kong Television Network; director Luk Tin Wah (陆天华), creative producer Stella Choi (蔡淑贤), script supervisor Alex Pau (鲍伟聪)[4](https://llsmusings.blogspot.com/2015/01/review-of-hktv-series-to-be-or-not-to-be.html) |
| Broadcast | Premiered 12 December 2014 in Hong Kong (11 December 2014 in Malaysia); 25 episodes[5](https://movie.douban.com/subject/20388226//) |
| Lead cast | Maggie Cheung (张可颐), Prudence Liew (刘美君), Poon Chan Leung (潘灿良), Savio Tsang (曾伟权), Lam Lei (林利), Zac Koo (高皓正), Mimi Kung (龚慈恩)[5](https://movie.douban.com/subject/20388226//) |
| Audience | About 270,000 viewers, one of HKTV's highest-rating dramas; Douban score 8.0 from 2,061 users[6](https://news.now.com/home/entertainment/player?newsId=150805) • [5](https://movie.douban.com/subject/20388226//) |
| Theme | The reunion of two sisters separated between mainland China and Hong Kong, tracing 30 years of Hong Kong–Mainland relations[2](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/to-be-or-not-to-be-1) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and themes
The story centers on two biological sisters born in a Hakka village. Their mother worked in Hong Kong as a housekeeper and arranged for one daughter to migrate there; a change of plan meant the younger sister went to Hong Kong while the elder stayed in the village to care for their mother after a stroke. The sisters then spent roughly thirty years living apart, one becoming a Hong Kong professional and the other a wealthy businesswoman on the mainland, before reuniting as adults.[10](https://tvbandthailakorns.wordpress.com/2015/01/16/on-to-be-or-not-to-be/) • [11](https://www.tvmao.com/drama/LiM2aS0%3D)
Through this reunion the series stages the cultural frictions of the period: simplified versus traditional [Chinese characters](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-characters), Hong Kong companies entering the mainland market, differing attitudes toward contracts and personal connections, and the mutual vanity and insecurity each side projects onto the other.[12](https://swa0614.pixnet.net/blog/posts/10251343364) Early episodes gave the Hong Kong sister dialogue that struck viewers as speaking for Hong Kong people, including lines about Hong Kong remaining a place that uses traditional Chinese characters and about being "poor with nothing left but money".[6](https://news.now.com/home/entertainment/player?newsId=150805) A younger generation of characters participates in street demonstrations, which reviewers connected to the protest movements of contemporary Hong Kong.[1](https://mcihk2015.blogspot.com/2015/03/online-review-to-be-or-not-to-be.html)
The title itself poses the series' closing question: in an era of Hong Kong–Mainland integration, whether one would choose to be a Hong Kong person in the next life, or whether the distinction between Hong Kong people and [Chinese people](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-people) will eventually disappear.[2](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/to-be-or-not-to-be-1)
## Production background
The series was shot in 2012 and 2013, before HKTV's application for a free-to-air television license was refused, and it reached audiences only after the company launched as an online streaming station.[7](https://www.inmediahk.net/%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB/%E5%BE%88%E4%B8%8D%E9%8C%AF%E7%9A%84%E4%BE%86%E7%94%9F%E4%B8%8D%E5%81%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA) Script supervisor Alex Pau said the production team never treated the subject matter as too sensitive, arguing that the word "sensitive" promotes a self-censorship mindset and that a drama's most important job is to reflect reality and resonate with audiences.[8](https://llsmusings.blogspot.com/2015/01/hktv-launch-interview-with-brains.html)
**Location work.** Unlike comparable period dramas, the production used real locations, filming in a rural village in Dongguan for the mainland scenes.[9](https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/%E4%BE%86%E7%94%9F%E4%B8%8D%E5%81%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA) Cinematographer-turned-commentator accounts note that this gave the historical passages a texture that studio-bound productions lacked.[9](https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/%E4%BE%86%E7%94%9F%E4%B8%8D%E5%81%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA)
## Reception
The drama was HKTV's highest-rated series after the station's launch and drew discussion among internet users in both Hong Kong and mainland China.[5](https://movie.douban.com/subject/20388226//) Hong Kong media counted about 270,000 viewers, placing it among the station's top performers, and the launch-period lineup of *The Election* and *To Be or Not To Be* briefly lifted HKTV's audience to around 200,000 before later series saw ratings decline.[6](https://news.now.com/home/entertainment/player?newsId=150805) • [13](https://m.fx361.com/news/2015/0403/208698.html) On Douban it holds a score of 8.0 from 2,061 users.[5](https://movie.douban.com/subject/20388226//)
**Critical views.** Reviewers praised the lead performances, particularly Prudence Liew's role and the pairing of [Maggie Cheung](https://www.edgepedia.org/maggie-cheung) and Poon Chan Leung, and the theme song 两杯茶, sung by Liew with lyrics by [Lin Xi](https://www.edgepedia.org/lin-xi), was popular enough that HKTV uploaded a full music video to YouTube on 2 January 2015.[14](https://dramapot.com/2015/1229/farewellhktv2-reviews/) • [3](https://etvhk.fandom.com/wiki/%E4%BE%86%E7%94%9F%E4%B8%8D%E5%81%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA) Critics also noted weaknesses: one commentator called the plot conventional, "TVB stuff", even while praising its convincing portrayal of middle-class Central professionals; the director of HKTV's *The Election* argued that even openly political HKTV dramas, including this one, stopped short of deeper ideological critique.[15](https://collection.news/thestandnews/articles/20049) • [16](https://collection.news/thestandnews/articles/19456) Alex Pau later said that if HKTV had been a free-to-air station he would have re-shot the ending so the series concluded during the Umbrella Movement.[17](https://collection.news/thestandnews/articles/1559)
## Legacy
Because it was filmed in 2012–2013 but aired in late 2014, viewers remarked on how closely its story lines tracked events then unfolding in Hong Kong.[7](https://www.inmediahk.net/%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB/%E5%BE%88%E4%B8%8D%E9%8C%AF%E7%9A%84%E4%BE%86%E7%94%9F%E4%B8%8D%E5%81%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA) The series has since become a standard reference point in scholarship on Hong Kong identity: a 2021 master's thesis at [National Chengchi University](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-chengchi-university) analyzes it alongside the 1979 series *The Good, The Bad And The Ugly* (网中人) to examine how realistic Hong Kong television dramas shape local consciousness, finding that the portrayal of mainland China shifted from negative to positive across the decades the two dramas span.[18](https://thesis.lib.nccu.edu.tw/detail/413d9f215979e4eb777c092633c20d39/) Its mainland-born sister character has been compared with *网中人*'s "Ah Chan" as a recurring figure through which Hong Kong television stages conflict between new immigrants and locals.[19](https://storystudio.tw/article/gushi/%E5%9C%A8%E6%9C%AC%E5%9C%9F%E8%88%87%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E4%B9%8B%E9%96%93%EF%BC%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E6%A5%AD%E7%9A%84%E5%89%8D%E4%B8%96%E4%BB%8A%E7%94%9F) In April 2020, HKTV re-released the series on YouTube alongside *The Election* and *The Menu* during the COVID-19 stay-home period.[20](https://www.esquirehk.com/lifestyle/hktvmall-hktv-3-hong-kong-tv-series)
## References
1. [Online Review: To Be or Not To Be (來生不做香港人), Media and Culture Industries in Hong Kong](https://mcihk2015.blogspot.com/2015/03/online-review-to-be-or-not-to-be.html)
2. [To Be or Not To Be, TheTVDB.com](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/to-be-or-not-to-be-1)
3. [來生不做香港人, 香港電視大典 (Fandom)](https://etvhk.fandom.com/wiki/%E4%BE%86%E7%94%9F%E4%B8%8D%E5%81%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA)
4. [Review of HKTV series "To Be or Not To Be", LL's Musings](https://llsmusings.blogspot.com/2015/01/review-of-hktv-series-to-be-or-not-to-be.html)
5. [来生不做香港人 (2014), 豆瓣](https://movie.douban.com/subject/20388226//)
6. [〈娛樂乜乜乜〉10個HKTV的難忘時刻, Now新聞](https://news.now.com/home/entertainment/player?newsId=150805)
7. [很不錯的來生不做香港人, 香港獨立媒體](https://www.inmediahk.net/%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB/%E5%BE%88%E4%B8%8D%E9%8C%AF%E7%9A%84%E4%BE%86%E7%94%9F%E4%B8%8D%E5%81%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA)
8. [HKTV Launch: Interview with the 'brains' behind "To Be or Not To Be", LL's Musings](https://llsmusings.blogspot.com/2015/01/hktv-launch-interview-with-brains.html)
9. [來生不做香港人, 中文百科全書](https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/%E4%BE%86%E7%94%9F%E4%B8%8D%E5%81%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA)
10. […On To Be Or Not To Be, TVB and Thai Lakorns](https://tvbandthailakorns.wordpress.com/2015/01/16/on-to-be-or-not-to-be/)
11. [来生不做香港人剧情介绍, 电视猫](https://www.tvmao.com/drama/LiM2aS0%3D)
12. [《來生不做香港人》1-11, PIXNET](https://swa0614.pixnet.net/blog/posts/10251343364)
13. ["老"亚视将逝，"新"港视苦撑, 环球时报](https://m.fx361.com/news/2015/0403/208698.html)
14. [Farewell HKTV Dramas, thanks for the memories (Part 2), DramaPot](https://dramapot.com/2015/1229/farewellhktv2-reviews/)
15. [〖告別港視 3〗鄧小宇專訪, 立場新聞聞庫](https://collection.news/thestandnews/articles/20049)
16. [〖告別港視 2〗《選戰》總導演回望, 立場新聞聞庫](https://collection.news/thestandnews/articles/19456)
17. [〖來生不做表姐 ‧ 下〗他們的中港矛盾史, 立場新聞聞庫](https://collection.news/thestandnews/articles/1559)
18. [陳頌誠 (2021). 香港電視劇與身份認同：以《網中人》及《來生不做香港人》爲例. 國立政治大學](https://thesis.lib.nccu.edu.tw/detail/413d9f215979e4eb777c092633c20d39/)
19. [在本土與世界之間：香港電視業的過去、現在與未來, StoryStudio](https://storystudio.tw/article/gushi/%E5%9C%A8%E6%9C%AC%E5%9C%9F%E8%88%87%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E4%B9%8B%E9%96%93%EF%BC%9A%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E6%A5%AD%E7%9A%84%E5%89%8D%E4%B8%96%E4%BB%8A%E7%94%9F)
20. [HKTV劇集YouTube重新上架, Esquire HK](https://www.esquirehk.com/lifestyle/hktvmall-hktv-3-hong-kong-tv-series)
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*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 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license