Dragon Boys, part I

Yeah, so it was aired tonight. Not going to be the talk of the town over, b/c of our tiny tiny Chinese population, but according to Google, it did stir a little discussion over on the West Coast. For one thing, it was interesting to see HK stars (Eric Tsang, Lawrence Chou) on the small screen, the CBC, no less. Tsang does the gangster boss again, which he played memorably well in Infernal Affairs (even reprising his own role in parody Love is a Many Stupid Thing, shamelessly helping to milk the Infernal Affairs cow).

The TV adaptation of John Woo's Once A Thief on CTV was the last Canadian series I could remember involving Chinese people and topic, as more than one cast member. Incidentally, it was also about gangsters (being based on John Woo's work). I particularly liked the tirade between Inspector Jiang and his Scottish-descended colleague, where they speak about why he chooses to identify himself as Chinese, while his colleague long-forgot that he was of Scottish origin. Canadianess will never be just an abstract set of values. The part where the colleague shows off his Cantonese skills is also sweet. Generally, I wasn't offended by the portrayal of Chinese people, and a Chinese version of The Little Mosque In The Prairie would be intriguing, yet irrelevant to a Canadian audience. I look forward to Part II.