Hong Kong novelist Yi Shu’s works are being adapted for movie and TV, but not everyone is sold on the messaging of these female-centric stories
Under a brilliant autumn sky, Huang Yimei glides down the open road. A black leather jacket clings to her form. Her motorcycle hums with power. As she rides, the yellow leaves of the trees lining the street blur into a golden haze. “From now on, the world points wherever I want to go, and I embrace my being, fully and utterly,” she says.
A declaration about following one’s heart, this line has become a popular mantra among viewers of the hit show The Tale of Rose. Adapted from the 1981 novel of the same name by renowned Hong Kong writer Nee Yeh-su, better known by her pen name Yi Shu (亦舒), the show explores 20 years in the life of Huang, a good-looking art curator born into an academic family in Beijing. Portraying Huang is Liu Yifei, known for playing the lead in Disney’s Mulan (2020), and the show dominated ratings from the start, setting a record high for urban dramas on Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video.
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