The Pawnshop No. 8
| The Pawnshop No. 8 | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | 第8號當舖 |
| Genre | Romance Supernatural |
| Based on | The Pawnshop No. 8 by Zita Law |
| Directed by | Chen Chun-liang |
| Starring | Alex To Tien Hsin |
| Country of origin | Taiwan |
| Original language | Mandarin |
| No. of episodes | 116 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Kuo Chien-Hung |
| Production location | Taiwan |
| Production companies | TransWorld Production Co. Anhui Television (Mainland China) |
| Original release | |
| Release | 2003 – 2003 |
The Pawnshop No. 8 (also known as Pawnshop #8) is a 2003 Taiwanese romantic-supernatural television series that aired on Star Chinese Channel (now Star Entertainment Channel), based on Zita Law's novel of the same name. The series was produced by TransWorld Production Co., and licensed by ImaginAsian in the United States. The series stars Alex To and Tien Hsin, as well as Ben Lee, Chiang Tsu-ping, Remus Kam, Carol Cheng and Penny Lin.
The series was critically acclaimed and well received in numerous Asian countries, especially mainland China, as The Pawnshop No. 8 blends elements of Western religions such as Christianity with pre-modern and modern Chinese society.
Premise
The namesake Pawnshop No. 8 is a fictitious pawnshop that took place inside a hidden dimension which was operated by Satan (referred in the show as a shadow), who oversees the entire management of the shop. Satan handpicked one master to operate the business, who is granted immortality, life-death predictability, and fortune, in exchange that the master must comply with Satan by following rules set forth by itself. The series started in the later years of Qing dynasty, and progressed towards the establishment of the Republic of China, and modern day Taiwan.
An urban legend was spread in the past, that customers who come across the pawnshop will get anything they desire for, providing that the customer is willingly doing so to pay an increasing price in each visit. The purpose of the pawnshop is that the Satan will tempt patrons to pawn items and valuables, ranging from body organs, sentience, luck, abilities, and especially souls, in exchange of their patron's items that desire, under a condition that the pawned goods would remain forfeited under normal circumstances. Satan had fought with the angels for eons, and revealed that the end goal is to collect the patron's soul through various ways of temptation and greed in particular.
Plot
Arc 1 (episodes 1-39)
In 1515, mid-Ming dynasty, a master privately used a pawned item to restore his lover's sanity, contravening Satan's orders. Satan punished the master by immolating him and took his lover's life as well. Thereafter, the pawnshop was left vacant without a master until 1909. At that time, wealthy businessman Han Nuo was married with Yue Yin, and gave birth to a young boy named Han Lei. Satan found Han Nuo as its successor, but then he began to possess Han Lei and began tormenting his family until Han Nuo made an agreement to work with him. After Yue Yin's face was burnt in an accident caused by one of Satan's pranks, Han Nuo was forced to work with Satan, sacrificing his romance for Yue Yin's happiness in the process, and thus become the new master. Han also picked Ah Jing, a beggar who came to harass his residence earlier, as its new assistant.
Han's first patron was a businessman name Chen Dawei, who pawned his antique watch for 5,000 Harbin dollars (now Chinese dollar) to save his business, was later revealed to be Yue Yin's cousin-in-law later in the series. As years passed, several other patrons, such as Amy, a bartender, Sun Zhuo, a fashion designer and Han's maternal granddaughter, Wen Xin, an orphan and Sun's friend, Lin Sheng-tang, a technician, and Doctor Bai, a SARS researcher, also have come to visit the pawnshop but have paid ever increasing prices as a consequence of greed and later suffered serious consequences in reality, including Chen in particular, who ended up being a beggar. Han also have conflicts against Church Priest Bai, who could see Han and Jing when the two paid visit in the real world. Yue also aged and later die of old age, with Han, whose in spiritual form, paid a visit in her death bed.
Towards the end of the arc, Han discovered that he had used Sun's romance to regain his romance ability, and started that he fell in love with Jing in return. Jing accidentally broke one of the jars containing the soul of Gao Feng, and possesses it soul to one of the soulless assistant, who then enter the real world; Gao decide to pawn his soul to curse his girlfriend, Zhao Liang Yin, who in reality, its reincarnation was Amy. Both members also began to breach the pawnshop's protocols when Sun become is new assistance and granted access to the pawnshop, while Jinwas brought into assistance by the Priest Bai; After Sun was relieved of his assistance, Jing was returned to as an assistant, and while Jing and Han was planning for marriage, Satan came, having been aware about all the events and found that both Han and Jing had breached the rules in particular; Jing chose to take the punishment with Han together, therefore immolating both members and ending the arc.
Cast
| Character | Played By | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Han Nuo | Alex To | The son of a well-off family, Han Nuo is forced to give up his love and leave his family to take over Pawnshop No. 8. His cold and heartless appearance serves to conceal his inner compassion as well as his loneliness, helplessness, and repressed love. |
| Chen Jing | Tien Hsin | Commonly known as A-Jing, Chen Jing first appears as a young beggar girl. She voluntarily becomes the pawnshop's assistant and earns Dark Shadow's approval (much to Han Nuo's dismay). After a century of living together, she falls for her boss Han Nuo, not knowing that he has already been rendered unable to love. Throughout the series, A-Jing changes from a greedy beggar willing to kill for food and shelter to a lonely woman willing to die for love. |
| Sun Zhuo | Penny Lin | Sun Zhuo is an aspiring singer who pawns her romantic love in exchange for international fame. Upon receiving Han Nuo's unprecedented affection, she believes herself in love and assumes the feeling to be reciprocal. Her dream is to replace A-Jing and be with Han Nuo forever. She reveals her feelings on her deathbed, only to be told by Han Nuo that she is in fact his great-granddaughter. With all hope lost, she chooses to die of brain cancer at the age of 31 instead of pawning a sacred key for 50 additional years of life. |
| The Bai family | Ben Lee | Members of the Bai family are identical angels who appear to mortals in many forms in order to turn misguided souls into the hands of God. They will convince desperate people that life moves on and tell hopeless individuals that fate lies in their hands. They are considered the competition and biggest threat to Pawnshop No. 8. Nevertheless, A-Jing gets into an inexplicable relationship with John Bai, who becomes her closest friend and confidant. |
| Lu Yunyin | Cheng Chia-yu | Yunyin is a devout Catholic and the wife of Han Nuo. After her husband leaves, her friends and family have suggested that she should move on, but she remains firm in the belief that she and Han Nuo will one day be reunited. Fifty years later, on her deathbed, Han Nuo holds her hand and asks why it is that he traded his life and love for her happiness only for her to reject happiness whenever it comes. Yunyin replies that waiting for him is her happiness. |
| Gao Feng | Tou Chung-hua | A scholar from the Song dynasty, Gao Feng met and fell in love with Zhao Liangyin, a famous prostitute. He gave up his future to spend time with Liangyin, but was brutally rejected by his beloved the moment his money was gone. Faced with rejection and unable to cope with his anger, he went to Pawnshop No. 8 and pawned his soul in exchange for retaliation. 800 years later, he escapes from the pawnshop. After spending time with Liangyin's reincarnation, he realizes that everything was a misunderstanding. But it is too late. This girl, Amy, lives under his curse and will continue to do so for all of eternity. There is only one way to break it... |
| Amy | Chiang Tsu-ping | Amy is a nightclub worker with a history of abusive relationships and misfortunes in the workforce. She is plagued by constant nightmares and is also destined to die a horrifying death on her 29th birthday. Amy is the reincarnation of Zhao Liangyin, a prostitute from the Song dynasty, who fell in love with Gao Feng but forced out an act of betrayal in an attempt to motivate the latter to succeed. Gao Feng misunderstood her intentions and instead cursed her to remain a prostitute for all of eternity and never live past 29. Yet despite hardships and multiple reincarnations, Gao Feng remains the one and only in Amy's heart. |
| Chung Hsiao-chieh | Kimi Hsia | |
| Yang Wen-han | Lee Lee-zen | |
| Lin Kuan-hua | Michael Huang | |
| Gao Han | Remus Kam | The third-generation Pawnshop master, who succeeded Han beginning in the start of the second arc. Gao later demoted to assistant during the start of the third arc after Han returned to the Pawnshop and being reinstated as the status. Gao is the son of the Gao Feng and Amy, and was raised by Satan after Han's punishment, and was later become the manager of a business conglomerate called Empire. |
| Unnamed master | Wakin Chau | The first-generation master, only appeared in the very first episode of the series. The master had worked for an unknown amount of time prior to the start of the series, until in 1515 where he used one of the pawned items (the sanity of a client's son for 10,000 gold) to restore the sanity for his lover, Lanting. Satan then immolates the master for breaching rules, kicking off the premise of the series. |
| Satan | Unknown | Also called or referred to as the Shadow, is depicted as a cloaked figure resembling a grim reaper, also a personification of death. Satan oversees the management of the pawnshop and selects a master, with strict conditions to comply for the master in particular. |
Production
The Pawnshop No. 8 is an adaptation of a novel by Hong-Kong writer Zita Law.[1][2] Principal photography began on May 13, 2003, without its star, Alex To; his arrival in Taiwan from his home in Hong Kong was delayed due to quarantine measures of the then-ongoing SARS outbreak.[3]
Reception
Wu Qizong, writing for the Min Sheng Bao, remarked that Alex To's and Chen Chia-yu's roles were challenging, as the same actors had to play the same character from age twenty to their seventies.[4]
Spinoff
In 2006-2008, Star Chinese Channel created a spinoff quiz game show titled The Bureau No.9 (Chinese: 第9號鏢局), hosted by Hsu Nai-lin, where contestants compete in an auction-based trivia of general knowledge questions for a grand prize of 1 million NTD. The show is based on the television series as well, with the game show set using a similar setting for the pawnshop.
See also
- Deal with the Devil
- List of Taiwanese dramas from 2000 to 2010
- The Witch's Diner, a 2021 South Korean drama, with a similar plot to The Pawnshop No. 8
References
- Mak, Mun San (2004-03-28). "Television". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
Hong Kong actor-singer Alex To may have been in the news last year for all the wrong reasons, but his latest outing in the supernatural drama The Pawnshop No. 8 should get everyone talking again - for the right ones. Adapted from a novel by popular Hong Kong writer Zita Law aka Deep Snow (pop idol Andy Lau is said to be a huge fan of her works), the Taiwanese serial stars To as the proprietor of a pawnshop during the late Qing dynasty. ... Try not to cringe when you see To, with his handsome face all contorted, declaring: 'I love her! I want to be with her during this lifetime, and the next, and the next...'If you can get past that, you should begin to appreciate the decent acting by him, Tien and the rest of the cast, which includes TV host A-ya and Matilda Tao's beau Li Li-jen.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - Wu, Qizong 吳啟綜 (2003-04-16). 杜德偉來台 開 當舖 天心 鄭家榆繞身旁 帥哥強調跟女友感情沒問題 [Alex To came to Taiwan to open a pawn shop. Tien Hsin, Carol Cheng are around,. The handsome guy emphasizes that he and his girlfriend have no relationship problems.]. Min Sheng Bao (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2023-07-29. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
「第８號當舖」由「映畫」郭建宏製作、蔡揚名執導，劇情改編小說描述一間當舖，不僅可以典當金銀珠寶，還可以典當人的際遇、靈魂、愛情，甚至身體的任何部位。杜德偉飾演被賦予魔力長生不老的當舖老闆，而鄭家榆則飾杜的賢淑老婆，一路從20歲演到70多歲，很有挑戰性。天心則飾演非常時摩的當舖夥計。
- Yang, Qifeng 楊起鳳 (2003-05-14). "第8號當鋪 照燒！ 驚煞中開鏡 仁波切祈福" [The Pawnshop No. 8. Teriyaki! Shocked and opened the mirror, Rinpoche prayed]. Star News (in Chinese).
衛視中文台「第8號當鋪」昨天開鏡，男主角杜德偉因屬港澳同胞無法來台，不過現場特別邀來格巴多傑仁波切大師及五位喇嘛，為全台灣人民進行祈福儀式，盼大家能平安渡過這次SARS席捲全球的風暴。在香港接受訪問的杜德偉說，為讓劇組能順利工作，他願意配合政府來台隔離十天的禁令。
- Zhao, Dazhi 趙大智 (2003-08-24). "劉雪華 醜到把于莉嚇哭 暴牙、歪嘴進第8號當舖 大美女細數嚇人史 超得意" [Leanne Liu is so ugly that Yu Li was scared to tears. Toothy, crooked mouth into The Pawnshop No. 8. Scary history of beauties. Super interesting.]. Min Sheng Bao (in Chinese).
劉雪華最近加入衛視中文台「第8號當舖」，昨天在華視地下4樓攝影棚拍一段精采劇情，先拍她25歲時因長相醜陋，到杜德偉和天心開設的當舖，打算出賣自己最珍貴之物，換取美貌；接著，她果真如願變成像天心一般的美女，身著華服但慾望反而愈來愈多，還想繼續典當下去，到最後，甚至連生育能力和視力都賣給魔鬼了。
- "今晚新菜色 第8號當鋪" [New dishes tonight. The Pawnshop No. 8]. United Evening News (in Chinese). 2003-10-07.
改編自香港知名小說家深雪同名小說的電視連續劇「第8號當舖」，由杜德偉和天心主演，是衛視中文台首齣花鉅資自製的八點檔連續劇。
- Fang, Chan 方嬋 (2003-10-12). "當鋪造勢 星情狂FUN 中南部辦簽名 天心小露性感 杜德偉好興奮" [Pawn shop to build momentum. Star lovers FUN. Autographing at Central South Office. Tien Hsin is sexy. Alex To is so excited.]. Star News (in Chinese).
為了幫主演的「第8號當舖」造勢，天心以黑色薄紗加上若隱若現的Bra，色誘觀眾；而愛血拚的林韋君看到簽名會現場百貨公司正在打折，差一點衝進去大肆血拚。 衛視中文台大戲「第8號當舖」下中南部辦簽名會，男女主角杜德偉、李志希、天心、林韋君的魅力，將現場擠得水瀉不通。
- Li, Yiyun 李怡芸 (2003-12-07). "電視派不屑原著 小說派力挺深雪 吵成e團 當舖狂賣" [The TV school disdains the original work, while the novel school supports Zita Law Arguing into an e group, pawnshop selling wildly]. Star News (in Chinese).
電視劇「第8號當舖」才因換了主角拍續集被網友痛批，這廂對於原著小說與電視劇的優劣之爭，亦在網上辯得沸沸揚揚，然而不論是褒是貶，結果是…原著小說因此再度熱賣。網友對於「第8號當舖」電視版和小說版的好惡，可說是涇渭分明，支持電視劇的人，認為小說沒有真正「說故事」，電腦天才林賢堂為婚姻的犧牲只是過場，孫卓也沒有談到友情及為成功的掙扎，更沒有劉至芳的人性轉變，因此認為賦予原著生命的，是編劇和演員，
- Cai, Yiling 蔡宜玲 (2004-01-31). "天心：叫我紅八點 一人三部戲 八點檔不看她也難" [Tien Hsin: Call me Red Eight. Three dramas for one person, it's hard not to watch her at eight o'clock]. United Evening News (in Chinese).
2003年對天心是幸運的一年，「第8號當舖」在台灣收視長紅，創造有線台國語劇奇蹟 ... 由於天心人氣急速上升，正在播出的「第8號當舖」因有上檔壓力，天心每天都得趕拍
- Li, Meihua 李美嬅 (2004-03-10). "8號當舖開張 有價萬物全收 店名趕搭電視劇熱潮 工作人員穿制服凸顯「專業」 首日就有人拿名牌皮包、新款手機和名表典當" [The Pawnshop No. 8 opened, accepting everything of value. The name of the store catches up with the TV drama craze. The staff wear uniforms to highlight their "professionalism." On the first day, some people pawned designer bags, new mobile phones and famous watches]. United Daily News (in Chinese). p. B2.
電視劇第8號當舖最近當紅，這家8號當舖名稱一樣，在夜晚時廣告霓虹燈閃爍，引人注意。三月八日才取得縣政府核發的營利事業登記證，昨天開張已有人上門把名牌皮包、新款行動電話和名表拿來典當。 ... 老闆徐嘉宏不否認取這店名是趕搭電視劇熱潮，但為與傳統當舖區隔，8號當舖門面很明亮，工作人員一律穿上深灰色制服，希望給顧客專業的感覺，
- Yu, Qingxuan 於慶璇 (2016-04-16). "《第8號當舖》13年過去了 如今這些主演..." ["The Pawnshop No. 8" aired 13 years, and now these leading actors...]. China Times (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2023-07-29. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
《第8號當舖》是一齣相當別出心裁的電視劇，故事設定為清末民初之時，講述一間特別的當舖，在這間當舖裡接受任何物品，典當的不僅僅只是金銀珠寶、大屋樓契，還有一個人的四肢、內臟、運氣、機遇、快樂，以及靈魂。劇情看似記憶猶新，但不知不覺，這部電視劇已經過去有13年之久，究竟這些主演現在都過得如何呢？還記得他們嗎？
- Young, Debbie (2004-06-11). "Real drama queen". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
My most recent purchase is a 40-episode Taiwanese drama called Pawnshop No. 8, about the battle between the two worlds of good and evil. It cost me $100 for the set but I think it is money well-spent.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - Yang, Qifeng 楊起鳳 (2003-04-16). "杜德偉登台 忘掉麻煩 吸毒風波律師處理 舒服拍戲快樂玩" [Alex To on stage, forgetting the trouble. Lawyer dealing with drug scandal, comfortable filming and fun]. Star News (in Chinese).
衛視與製作人郭建宏、導演蔡揚名合作拍攝八點檔自製劇「第 8號當舖」請來不老的情人杜德偉演男主角，首度在台拍電視劇