Taiwan-Boy bands, miniseries, and the language, Or, Guide to Taiwanese romantic miniseries

Taiwan. Island in East Asia controlled by the Republic of China(most of whose population is on Taiwan's main island of Formosa).

Population: around 20 million.

Languages spoken: Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese.

Interesting fact: One in seven marriages in Taiwan now involves a partner from another country

Taiwanese, as a language, is spoken by only about 50 million people in the world(which may sound like a lot until you consider that California alone has a population of almost 37 million) and is not only difficult to learn but has also been suppressed by the Japanese and the Chinese Nationalist Party, largely in favor of more popular dialects like Mandarin Chinese. However, if you want to learn Taiwanese, I would suggest this very helpful article by an English-speaking Taiwanese learner.

Now, boy bands. The one I parrticularly want to highlight is F4, one of the most popular bands to come out of Taiwan over the last 10 years and perhaps ever. Chosen seperately to star together in the meteorically(pun!) popular Taiwanese drama or miniseries Meteor Garden, they portrayed a group of 4 rich and popular boys known at their university as the F4, or "Flower Four". All were unknown and none had acted before, but the success of Meteor Garden launched them into immediate(and lasting) stardom, and after the series ended in 2001 they formed a boy band, taking the name from the series - F4. Due to copyright claims they are now also known as JVKV, taken from the first initials of each of their names - Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Ken Chu and Vic Zhou. They've attained immense popularity not just in Taiwan, but also in most of Asia, particularly Japan and the Phillipines.

Wikipedia article

Read the CNN Talkasia interview with them (you know a group is popular if even CNN interviews them:)

All four men have separate individual music and acting careers(Ken Chu has even released a cookbook) but continue to return to and maintain their status as a band of four. They have swept the Asian entertainment world from their beginning in 2001 until now, occasionally making a foray into Western entertainment as well(Vanness has sung with both Coco Lee and Beyonce).

I've attached two sample music videos of them at the end of this article. They sing very pop-ish stuff but are very pretty to look at and worth being aware of if only because of their fame.

Lastly, Taiwanese miniseries. Wikipedia has an entire subcategory for these Taiwanese television series, including a comprehesive list of them. Now, Taiwanese dramas are not quite as popular, in general, as Korean dramas, at least from what I can tell, but I personally prefer them overall, and they are certainly a large part(along with Japanese dramas) of the drama craze that has swept across Asia and is rapidly filtering into the Western world. Even Borders has started selling dramas.You can also find them on YesAsia.com. So.

What exactly are Taiwanese dramas, or twdramas as they're known for short?

Taiwanese dramas, just like Korean dramas, are usually 16-24 episode television miniseries, subtitled in English,with a well-definined beginning and end. In terms of format, they're different from western television in that they're often based on animes or manga(VERY different from comic books, they're more novels paired with art) and, more importantly, they have an actual story arc as a result. So instead of being an episode-by episode, ongoing story that can be extended acrosss season after season or cut short if cancelled, like western television, they are more like extended films, allowing the time for character development and room for the viewer to really care about the character.

Why watch them?

As I said above...they're like a cross between television and films, only better and more satisfying. They are, as are all dramas, very very will written in terms of characterization, full of beautiful people, and HIGHLY romantic. Mostly, however, they're just deeply, deeply compelling and addicting - the storylines are so amazing, whether they're comedic, romantic, or dramatic(often all three) - whatever form they take, dramas make you really CARE about the characters and their travails. Add in top-notch romance, oftentimes incredibly nuanced and convincing acting, original music scores, and beautiful settings and locations, and you have a package that's virtually impossible to resist, whether you're Asian or not, male or female(my non-romantic, practical brother is just as hooked as I am).

Where to start?

All of these can be watched online, in good quality, full screened, with good English subtitles. Don't be turned off by the subtitles, by the by - believe me, I never liked subtitles either, but have realized that if the subject matter is good enough subtitles actually don't matter at all - it's as good as watching in in your language. I would recommend, in this order-

1. Sweet Relationship - not the overall best, but I would say the best to start out with, as it has an unusually strong beginning(many dramas start off crazily and THEN pull themselves together) and is not overly melodramatic. Very sweet story of a plucky girl who dreams about being a chef and the cold, high-maintenance genius chef who falls in love with her.

2. Devil Beside You-get past the annoyingly fluffly and odd beginning and I promise the rest of this is amazing and serious.

3. Meteor Garden -another one which starts out weak - the first two episodes are rather so-so - and then pulls itself together spectacularly.

4. Hana Kimi-haven't seen this myself yet, but it's very famous and popular and I've heard many good things. Traditional girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, girl dresses like boy so she can go to boy's school story. :)

5. Mars-very dark and emotionally complex, but worth it. A tormented bad-boy falls for a shy artist with a hatred of men. Story of two people with broken pasts who find each other.

6. Why Why Love-delightful, comedic, funny and romantic. Two brothers vie for the same girl. This one stars THREE of my favorite Asian actors and is perhaps one of the few dramas that really has something for everyone. Good one to watch with the family.

And thus concludes my broadcast for the day...

Summary? Taiwan is an amazing country which produces great talent. And everyone should watch Taiwanese dramas.