Amor de Tarapaca

Amor de Tarapaca (Simplified Chinese: 紫藤恋, Traditional Chinese: 紫藤戀, Pinyin: zi teng lian) is a re-adaptation of famous Japanese Comic Candy Candy. The series leads as a forerunner in the popular trend of Korean-Chinese collaborations. It includes a strong cast starring Korean Actor Han Jae Suk and Taiwanese actress Ruby Lin. The story gradually unfolds from the bustling streets of Taipei to a Chile vineyard, and finally to the beautiful mountains of Yunnan, China. It is a passionate tale of two destined lovers, threatened with dangerous obstacles of two generations of matters.

Cast

Names used during its air in the Philippines are in parenthesis
* Han Jae Suk (韩在石/韓在石) as Zhao Yanzu/"Enrico Zhao" (赵彦祖/趙彥祖)
* Ruby Lin (林心如) as Li Yiqiao (黎亦乔/黎亦喬)
* Melody Yan Yue (殷悅) as Xia Xiangyi (夏湘怡)
* Shi Yinan (施易男) as Chen Lüxi (陈律西/陳律希)
* Sun Xing (孙兴) as Zhao Erxiang (赵尔翔)
* Victor Huang (黃維德) as Li Jie (李傑)
* Sunny Tu as Zheng Xin Yun (鄭心芸)
* Lin Mei Zhen as Li Mu Yin (黎慕茵)
* Shang Zhi Wei as Li Bai Kuang (李柏光)

Characters

* Zhao Yanzu

25 years old, Childhood name: Elvis

Son of Zhao Erxiang, an owner of a wine village and company
* Li Yiqiao

20 years old, Childhood/English name: Jojo. An orphan & wine-master
* Xia Xiangyi

21 years old

An orphan, have Yanzu as an older brother & love him, love rival with Yiqiao relating to Yanzu

* Chen Lüxi

24 years old

Yiqiao's childhood friend & grew up together, love rival with Yan Zu relating to Yiqiao
* Li Jie

25 years old

Yanzu's good friend and love rival relating to Xiangyi

Plot summary

Zhao Yanzu is a successful man suffering from difficult relationships with his parents. Rather than working in his father's company, Ashia, Yanzu works in another company. His resentment to his parents, especially his mother, is greatly because of childhood experiences. In his early teenage years, Yanzu was separated from his childhood friend, Jojo, because of his mother. Jojo lived at the Zhao household for a few years, as Jojo was the daughter of a woman Erxiang had an affair with. Yanzu maintains a cold, icy exterior, although inside he is a thoughtful person.

For years, Yanzu has gone in search of his childhood friend, Jojo. He later mistakens Xia Xiangyi as Jojo. In actuality, Xiangyi's best friend Li Yiqiao is the real Jojo. In order to let Xiangyi enter the Zhao household, Yiqiao let Xiangyi borrow her identity. Yanzu pursues Xiangyi tirelessly; however, when he reminisces on their childhood days, Xiangyi cannot find a response. Yanzu's love for Xiangyi is simply because of his love for his childhood friend, Jojo. A rivalry develops between Yanzu and his best friend, Li Jie, who likes Xiangyi. Hoping for wealth and power, Xiangyi pushes Yanzu into marrying her. Before their engagement party, Yanzu and Xiangyi go out to dinner at a restaurant where Yiqiao is a waitress. Yanzu starts noticing that he enjoys talking with Yiqiao.

When Yanzu discovers that Yiqiao is actually Jojo, he abandons Xiangyi and realizes his feelings for Yiqiao. Unfortunately, Yiqiao only looks up to Yanzu as an older brother. This is mostly because Yiqiao already has a boyfriend, Chen Lüxi, who she is very faithful to. Yiqiao is engaged to Lüxi, leaving Yanzu heartbroken. However, Lüxi later begins shifting away from Yiqiao. The two drift as Lüxi concentrates more on his work as an architect. After Lüxi disappears, Yiqiao is heartbroken and seeks out Yanzu for comfort. Yiqiao starts to realize she has more in common with Yanzu.

Yanzu later learns where Lüxi is. Having suffered an accident, Lüxi is in a coma. He is supervised by one of his colleagues at work who has strong feelings for him.....

Production

* Directors: Yan Da Ke, Wang Wei, Wu Jin Ying
* Chief Producer: Yan Da Ke
* Broadcast network: CTS. ATV
* Broadcast period: 2004 Jun 14~
* Air time: Mon~Fri 20:00 to 21:00
* Opening theme song: Misunderstanding | Wu Hui by Van fan & Melody
* Ending theme song: At The Moment by Ruby lin

Trivia

* When the series was aired on the Philippines via ABS-CBN, it was known as the Promise with most of the main character's names changed with English names, like Zhao Yan Zu (Han Jae Suk) is known there as Enrico.

Film gallery

* [http://gurl.f2o.org/categories.php?cat_id=62/ Ruby Lin International Family]
* [http://dienanh.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8489&hl=/ DienAnh]
* [http://dienanh.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11666/ DienAnh] (Episodes 1-15)
* [http://dienanh.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10520/ DienAnh] (Episodes 16-27)

External links

* [http://rubystation.com/ Ruby Station] (In Chinese)
* [http://2cts.tv/prog/a/a0010/index.html Taiwan CTS Official Site] (In Chinese)
* [http://www.hkatv.com/drama/04/amor/main.html HKATV Official Site] (In Chinese)