...Biography

The long-running "A Kindred Spirit" had concluded for over a year, but Producer Tsui Yu On still had ideas in his head for the series. Producer Tsui told TVB's Executive Producer Catherine Tsang about this. She suggested that he use his ideas and produce a new ancient sitcom. Producer Tsui took her advice and from the leftover ideas for "A Kindred Spirit," "Virtues of Harmony" was born! It started filming during the summer of 2001 and premiered in Hong Kong that September. "Virtues" was given a late-night time slot, airing after the two prime-time dramas. TVB wanted the series to be a half-hour comedy that people could watch before going to bed. "Virtues" was expected to end at episode 100. TVB had no plans to make "Virtues" really long and they were quite hesitant in extending the series at first.

From the start, "Virtues" was labeled an unoriginal copy of "Colourful Life" due to similar casts and genre. Eventually, people began to see the wit and humor of the series and everyone started falling in love with it. TVB, too, saw the success and high ratings that the series was earning for them. It even beat high-profiled production in ratings! Ratings success led to a 50-episode extension of "Virtues." The casts were really happy because "Virtues" was becoming such a hit. This extension was followed by even more extensions because of the production's continued success. The extension of "Virtues" brought in Kingdom Yuen, Stephanie Che, Lee Kwok Lun, Celine Ma, and many other casts to the show. The storyline was moved from the small "Chi Lik Gung" Village into the grand imperial palace (of course, "Virtues" never filmed in the real palace though!). Veteran Maggie Siu was added into the cast during its final 100 episodes. Before everyone's eyes, "Virtues" grew from 100 to 150 to 200 and finally to a grand total of 327 episodes. TVB was so confident in "Virtues" that it moved it from its late-night time slot and placed it on during prime-time. TVB wanted "Virtues" to reach out to an even wider audience. Even though it aired at 10:30 PM, people still stayed up to watch it. Finally, "Virtues" was given the comfortable 9:00 PM time slot. Since this move, "Virtues" has become a solid, family program for TVB.

The ancient "Virtues" finished filming in November 2002 and a 2-hour finale aired in December 2002. As a result of the series' popularity, the cast was invited for a stage appearance in Malaysia. In October 2002, "Virtues" had a variety show. The 2-hour program had the entire audience in laughter. Malaysians who attended the show got a preview of the songs that the casts recorded for their CD and enjoyed numerous skits, including the finale skit based on the series with the casts in their ancient costumes. The "Happy Together" CD was released in February 2003. The album consisted of 13 tracks and included a bonus VCD with 4 music videos.

"Virtues" was far from over. The idea for a modern version was formulated during autumn 2002. The cast was happy because they wouldn't have to wear heavy costumes anymore and preparation time prior to filming would be much shorter. The modern version of "Virtues" started production in March 2003. The filming endured several struggles, including SARS. The SARS epidemic was a grave threat to the casts. In fact, one of the "Virtues" directors had SARS! This sparked a scare in the "Virtues" studio and Nancy Sit and Joyce Chen had SARS scares of their own. Despite SARS, the casts continued filming bravely and gave each other support. Nancy Sit pleaded with TVB to release the modern "Virtues" early so that the casts could bring laughter back to Hong Kong because 2003 had begun with so much tragedy. TVB did as she requested and the modern "Virtues" premiered on May 5, 2003. The first week was a solid opening with high ratings. The modern "Virtues" is the first TVB series to be released that had filmed during the SARS period.

In summer 2003, TVB allowed sponsors to place advertisements directly in series. "Virtues" became an instant hot favorite for advertisements. The background sets were filled with products from sponsors and the casts were constantly seen using the products. Some of the sponsors for the series include mooncakes, C&S Tissue, Haitien Sauces, Panasonic electronics, Kleenex tissue, Coca-Cola, Aji Snacks, Sony Ericsson phones, White Flower medicinal oil, and so on. "Virtues"'s advertisements don't stop at just product sponsorships. The series also advertised for dentistry, the importance of health and check-ups, and so on. In fact, the government paid the show to preach against smoking in an Anti-Tobacco segment and the background in several episodes had anti-smoking posters. For weeks prior to the September 12, 2004 election in Hong Kong, posters advertising the election and encouraging voters were evident in the background of "Virtues." In the week of the election, there was a segment dedicated to stressing the importance of the election and voting and informing viewers how to vote. The 9/12 Election had the highest voting-turnout in the history of Hong Kong. The popularity of "Virtues" for sponsorship and advertisements is evident in every episode since TVB allowed the placement of ads in series.

Extension of the modern version was not surprisingly, but how the storyline developed was totally unexpected. Mannor Chan, Yu Yeung, and Lam King Kong were added to the show in summer 2003. During the winter of 2003, the health of Frankie Lam's father was failing and he wished that Frankie would get married with his long-time girlfriend, Kenix Kwok, before he died. Frankie fulfilled his father's wishes and proposed to Kenix. Because of their engagement and upcoming wedding, Frankie requested a temporary leave from "Virtues" so that he could have time to plan everything. Executive Producer Tsang made arrangements for Frankie. The final storyline for Frankie's "Kam Nin" and Bernice Liu's "Joey Wong" was filmed in December 2003 and aired in January 2004. Bernice was written off the series because her scenes revolved primarily around Frankie and it would be pointless to keep her around without him. Audiences waved goodbye to "big brother" and "big sister-in-law" and were promised that they would return 100 episodes later (this promise was not kept).

The job of hosting the "2004 New Years Countdown" was given to the "Virtues" gang. They traveled to Macau and hosted the program. In January 2004, the "Virtues" cast was asked to host the "Miss Chinese International 2004" beauty pageant. They opened the show with a performance and hosted the show as if they were their characters from "Virtues." That night saw the crowning of Linda Chung as the new "Miss Chinese International." Who knew that the paths of "Virtues" and Linda would cross and they would meet again with Linda a few months later!

Due to the departures of Frankie Lam and Bernice Liu, Hawick Lau and Albert Lo were added to the cast in February 2004. Cutie Mui filed for leave from "Virtues" because she wanted to leave TVB's drama department. She wanted to join TVB's variety shows and hosting department. Cutie left the show in March 2004, shattering her love triangle with Michael Tse and Bondy Chiu's characters. With the leave of so many casts, rumors circulated that TVB wanted to cut costs and kick off all the original "Virtues" casts because they were too "expensive" and replace them with newcomers. Linda Chung was casted for "Virtues" and she arrived in Hong Kong in April 2004. The characters of Linda and Hawick were supposed to have a romance, but in the summer of 2004, Hawick was written off the show to film another series. Further, Hawick announced that he would be leaving TVB to film in mainland China. Consequently, the "big big brother" character was written off permanently and once again, "Virtues" lacked a young, cute couple.

During summer 2004, TVB announced the surprising and sudden news that "Virtues" would conclude by the end of the year. Steven Ma joined "Virtues" in late August 2004 to fill up the void of a "male lead" and pair up with Linda Chung. The modern version wrapped up production in January 2005 with 443 episodes. The final episode aired on January 22, 2005 for one hour. Half of the finale was the conclusion of the series and the other half was a special interview with the casts reflecting back upon the production. Disappointingly, Frankie Lam, Bernice Liu, Cutie Mui, and Hawick Lau did not return to reunite with the other casts. The achievements and records of "Virtues" were announced and everyone waved a teary farewell to "Virtues," a series that had grown to be a part of everyone's lives.

Even though they make their work enjoyable, filming for "Virtues" has not been completely carefree. Whether it was raining or sunny, the casts were at TVB studios filming for the series seven days a week for fourteen hours a day. It was only during very dangerous or severe weather conditions was the casts given a break. They constantly have to worry whether or not the audience is getting enough laughs because they have a reputation to maintain. Nancy Sit suffered from a sun stroke while filming for a basketball scene in the morning, but put a smile on her face when she hosted a function to promote the series later that afternoon. They battled SARS in 2003. Despite all of their hardships, "Virtues" has been very good to everyone in the cast. Working on the series has provided financial stability and surpluses and boosted everyone's popularity.

The four years that they've spent together has made the "Virtues" ensemble a family. Nancy Sit became the godsister of Frankie Lam, Michael Tse, Johnny Tang, Louis Yuen, Hawick Lau, and Timmy Hung and they became her godbrothers during a celebration party after the conclusion of the ancient version. Their fellow cast members were a big part of Frankie and Michael's weddings in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Everyone is good friends with each other and they are comfortable around one another. They constantly tease each other and joke around. Bernice Liu says that the "Virtues" casts probably know her the best. During the SARS period, Joyce Chen became sick and she worried that she had come down with SARS. She told everyone that she didn't want to be a burden, so she would stop filming. They teased her and said they wouldn't let her die alone. Michael Tse risked his life and took her to the hospital for a check-up. Everyone helped Bernice with her lines, acting, and Cantonese. The cast is most protective of Linda Chung because she's young, living alone in Hong Kong, and inexperienced. From on- screen to off-screen, the "Virtues" cast is truly one big family.

Although never a ratings-buster achieving extremely high ratings or a high-profiled production, the success of "Virtues of Harmony" is undeniable. Its ratings has been consistently good and always near or at the top week after week. Despite haters and doubts, it has defied all odds and lasted a strong four years without declining. With a total of 770 episodes, "Virtues" holds the record for the second longest series in TVB's history. "Virtues" earns in four to five million dollars a month for TVB! At the 2002 TVB Anniversary, there was a segment where many TVB artists gathered around to dance and sing "infamous" TVB themesongs; the themesong to "Virtues" was one of these songs. The series' "Four Great Beauties," Bondy Chiu, Cutie Mui, Yvonne Lam, and Joyce Chen, picked up the award for "Best Partnership" at the TVB 2002 Anniversary. Throughout its run, "Virtues" has been voted, by popularity, in Next TV Award magazine's "Top 10 Programs" in every single year of its broadcast. Nancy Sit picked up several awards for her character of "Yau Nim Chi." Bernice Liu earned the nickname of "Princess" from her role in "Virtues." Linda Chung achieved quick success and popularity in less than a year thanks to her "Virtues" role. "Virtues of Harmony" has won numerous hearts since 2001 and will be a series remembered for all the warmth, laughs, and happiness that it spread to viewers all around the world.