Title: 盛夏晚晴天 / Sheng Xia Wan Qing Tian
English title: Clear Midsummer Night
Genre: Drama, Romance
Episodes: 47
Broadcast network: Hunan TV
Synopsis from Wiki:
The daughter of a real estate mogul Xia Wan Qing (Yang Mi), has seemingly no way of retreating after a friend’s betrayal and her boyfriend backing out of their wedding. Fortunately, she’s saved by business genius Qiao Jin Fan (Hawick Lau). Jin Fan is a “playboy” and the future successor for Qiao Corporation. He extends an offering hand and together they embark on a path of revenge. Each for reasons of their own, begin a love with “uncertain motives.” After enduring circumstances because of their families’ competing interests and a number of conspiracies the two find true love.
Hawick Lau as Qiao Jin Fan
Only son of the renowned Qiao empire, he has an established reputation as frivolous playboy. People assume that he has no business knowledge and spends his day throwing away his family’s hard earned money.
Jin Fan meets Wan Qing accidentally while overseas and despite his playboy attitude, helps her to get home. Later, he teams up with Wan Qing to seek revenge against his father’s daughter, his half-sister, Lai Xue.
With the help of his grandmother and best friend, he and Wan Qing set out on a path to change the future of both families.
Wu Jian Fei as Mo Ling Tian
A business savvy man who is initially played by Lai Xue, but ends up being the ultimate bad guy.
He is hungry for money and power and isn’t satisfied with what Wan QIng could offer him as her husband.
He hates being looked down upon and sets out to strike at those he believes, see him as inferior.
He is cunning and manipulative and will do anything to reach his goals.
Louis Fan as Xia Wang Yang
The only son of the Xia family and doting brother to Wan Qing. He regrets not having told his sister of her ex-fiancee’s affair leading to ehr being framed.
Wang Yang always supports his sister which results in him being included in her group of co-conspirators in seeking revenge against Mo Ling Tian.
He develops his own love story but with a disappointing end. He becomes good friends with Jin Fan even though he initially was wary of Jin Fan’s motives for helping his sister.
Lawrence Wang as Xie Chuang
Son of a Qiao Corporation board member and secretary / body guard / friend to Jin Fan.
He knows all the ins and outs of the Qiao family and is fondly referred to by all.
He lets grandmother know where and what Jin Fan is up to and is part of an ‘unrequited’ love with Ming Jiao.
Yang Mi as Xia Wan Qing
The daughter of a real estate tycoon with an innocent and naive outlook on life. At the beginning of the drama, her fiancee is Mo Ling Tian, but she is later betrayed by him and her supposed best friend, Lai Xue.
She is framed as being a cheater and a murderer, only to be saved by Qiao JIn Fan. A man with whom she has a love/hate relationship, and not just because of his last name.
Will hate and mistrust turn to love and mutual respect?
Yolin Liang as Lai Xue
Illegitimate daughter of Xia Ji Yun and his childhood sweetheart.
At first, she sets out to seek revenge on her father’s family for denying her and her mother of their ‘happy family’.
She’s the ex-girlfriend of Mo Ling Tian, who, after finding out that he was dating Wan Qing, sets out to destroy their relationship.
After many hardships, she comes to learn that her half-brother isn’t as bad as he seems.
PEKO as Qiao Ming Jiao
Only legitimate daughter of Qiao Ji Yun and sister of Jin Fan. She’s a self-proclaimed fashionista who eventually becomes owner of a magazine (the same one that Wan Qing works at).
Due to her being the only girl, she’s spoilt and has a princess attitude. Initially hateful of Wan QIng, as she doesn’t see her as an equal for her brother. She later realises that Jin Fan is truly in love with Wan Qing.
She has an ‘unrequited’ love with Xie Chuang who saved her as a child. She gets angered and jealous easily leading to a lot of misunderstandings.
Maggie Wong as Jing Yuan
She is Jin Fan’s ex-girlfriend who was sent away by Jin Fan’s father. She was expected to become his fiancee but Ji Yun disapproved of their relationship.
Her return marks a turning point in the story as Jin Fan is backed into a corner by his father with no way out.
She causes a lot of strife between Jin Fan and Wan Qing and causes Jin Fan to hate his father more than he already did.
Jin Fan loses nearly all his support and finds himself alone in his struggles, but can’t help feeling protective of Jing Yuan, who he now sees as a dear sister.
Honourable mention for Granny Qiao! She’s the best grandmother character I have ever come across. I guarantee you’ll love her as well.
This is quite an old drama, but still an interesting one nonetheless. I came across Hawick Lau whilst searching up Yang Mi and stumbled across this drama. The character portrayals are wonderfully done and Hawick’s acting of JIn Fan is spot on. His every emotion is believable and his pain is tangible at his most vulnerable moment within the drama.
This is probably the only drama where Yang Mi’s emotionless acting is a good thing since Wan Qing is naive and has no sense of revenge or angst.
I watched the entire drama in one sitting. I just couldn’t help myself. The story isn’t too complicated nor is there a lot of hidden agendas. The only thing that was a little confusing was what part Xie Chuang had to play in the second half of the drama. You’ll see what I mean if you watch it.
The only gripe I have is that the subbed versions don’t use the HD videos that are available and the subs don’t sync even if you have HD downloaded.
Try it and let me know what you think ^.^
IMO - Time4Drama 