Years back, I watched a Chinese show entitled “Twin Bracelets”. I cannot remember how many years ago it was, but I was still in my previous abode then, so it must have been more than fifteen years at least. I remember the show was shown on television. Out of boredom, I watched it, but was touched by the storyline.
Coincidentally, a year or so later, the show was shown again on television, so I watched it again. This show somehow got stuck at the back of my mind, but I did not pay heed to it until this year. For some reason, I had a big yearning to watch the show again. Since it was so long ago, I really had no idea who was starring in the show. I could not remember the English title, but the Chinese title translates literally to “Twin Bracelets”, so I tried searching for “Twin Bracelets movie”.
Finally I stumbled onto an Asian DVD website where I could order the show, so I ordered it. Apparently there were a couple of rather famous Hong Kong artistes starring in it, but that was before they were even well-known. As I re-watched the show again, I suddenly realize why it had already touched me even then.
The story is on two best friends (mixed opinions state them as lesbians) who grew up in a village in China, where men were treated as gems and women were treated as trash. It was not olden times but set in the 1980s. Even at that era, that particular village people (sidenote : Why does “YMCA” keeps running through my head now?) still adhered to the centuries-old custom of match-making.
With education and city influence (there was a movie theatre showing modern shows, they bought soft drinks, and girls were allowed to go to school to read and write), many of the young women were reluctant to go through match-making, but they were suppressed from going against the village rules.
Anyway for the two best friends, they were worried of losing each other once they married. So they made a pact that they would never love anyone except each other. Then it came time for both to be married. One married a good and kind-hearted man, and she really fell for her husband. The other one married a playboy who tried to rape her on their wedding night.
The one who married well decided to go out of the village with her husband, as she wanted her child to choose his / her own partner in the future. The one who did not marry well had always been opinionated and feminist since young, so she immediately wanted to divorce her husband, yet divorce was unheard of in the village.
She then decided to kill herself. Before that, she wanted her best friend to die with her, as she remembered their “pact”. However when she heard her best friend was expecting, she decided to spare her life and they exchanged their bracelets. She went into the sea and drowned. Her best friend came back to the village and saw just a letter, with a pair of identical bracelets she left behind and cried for her friend.
That was the end of the show. After so many years and re-watching it for the fifth time, I still feel touched and moved by the show. The element of friendship. The suppression of women in not so developed areas in the world. At the end of the day, be it match making or not, one’s love and the person you end up marrying is really dependent on luck, is it not?
Some may be lucky they married a good man, some may only show the true colours after marriage, but like what my friend once said, “I make my bed, just lie in it.” Maybe we should take a leaf out from olden times – once a couple is married, they just try to make things work, despite the difficulties and trials they have to overcome. And that is the essence of commitment, of making a marriage last, throughout it all.
Coincidentally, a year or so later, the show was shown again on television, so I watched it again. This show somehow got stuck at the back of my mind, but I did not pay heed to it until this year. For some reason, I had a big yearning to watch the show again. Since it was so long ago, I really had no idea who was starring in the show. I could not remember the English title, but the Chinese title translates literally to “Twin Bracelets”, so I tried searching for “Twin Bracelets movie”.
Finally I stumbled onto an Asian DVD website where I could order the show, so I ordered it. Apparently there were a couple of rather famous Hong Kong artistes starring in it, but that was before they were even well-known. As I re-watched the show again, I suddenly realize why it had already touched me even then.
The story is on two best friends (mixed opinions state them as lesbians) who grew up in a village in China, where men were treated as gems and women were treated as trash. It was not olden times but set in the 1980s. Even at that era, that particular village people (sidenote : Why does “YMCA” keeps running through my head now?) still adhered to the centuries-old custom of match-making.
With education and city influence (there was a movie theatre showing modern shows, they bought soft drinks, and girls were allowed to go to school to read and write), many of the young women were reluctant to go through match-making, but they were suppressed from going against the village rules.
Anyway for the two best friends, they were worried of losing each other once they married. So they made a pact that they would never love anyone except each other. Then it came time for both to be married. One married a good and kind-hearted man, and she really fell for her husband. The other one married a playboy who tried to rape her on their wedding night.
The one who married well decided to go out of the village with her husband, as she wanted her child to choose his / her own partner in the future. The one who did not marry well had always been opinionated and feminist since young, so she immediately wanted to divorce her husband, yet divorce was unheard of in the village.
She then decided to kill herself. Before that, she wanted her best friend to die with her, as she remembered their “pact”. However when she heard her best friend was expecting, she decided to spare her life and they exchanged their bracelets. She went into the sea and drowned. Her best friend came back to the village and saw just a letter, with a pair of identical bracelets she left behind and cried for her friend.
That was the end of the show. After so many years and re-watching it for the fifth time, I still feel touched and moved by the show. The element of friendship. The suppression of women in not so developed areas in the world. At the end of the day, be it match making or not, one’s love and the person you end up marrying is really dependent on luck, is it not?
Some may be lucky they married a good man, some may only show the true colours after marriage, but like what my friend once said, “I make my bed, just lie in it.” Maybe we should take a leaf out from olden times – once a couple is married, they just try to make things work, despite the difficulties and trials they have to overcome. And that is the essence of commitment, of making a marriage last, throughout it all.
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