Chinovela Mania!
by Ellen Joy Anastacio
September 2003

So what is it about Filipinos and our penchant for watching Tagalog-dubbed foreign soap operas? First it was the Mexican telenovela phase. Now, we can't get enough of the Chinovelas that we started devouring a few months ago.

Names like Dao Ming Sz, Hua Ze Lei, Mei Zuo, Shi Men and Shan Cai now roll off our tongues as easily as Marimar, Rosalinda, Thalia, and Fernando Jose. It all started when Meteor Garden aired in ABS-CBN. All of a sudden, a new craze was born.  

The story: Rich boys called F4 (Flower Four) ruled the school.  Poor girl gets their ire. She gets persecuted in school but she fights back. Richest guy in F4 falls in love with her. She falls in love with his best friend. Rich guy persists. Nasty mom stands in the way. Poor girl falls in love  with Rich Guy and fights for it. They end up together, against all odds. Add long hair on all the guys and even longer hair on the girl, and you've got the craze that's had everyone talking, from housewives to office employees to young kids, even! In washrooms, in fast food chains, in offices nationwide, it's still a hot topic for discussion. You can even hear people singing along with their songs - 
in Mandarin! 

And it didn't stop with Meteor Garden. Meteor Rain and Meteor Garden 2 beckoned, naturally. And if that wasn't enough, GMA has also joined in the fray with their own chinovelas: The Poor Prince. MVP Valentine, Lavender, Endless Love.  

But Meteor Garden remains the blockbuster. Is it the story? The novelty of the  Chinese boy band with long hair? The element of being imported? With all the buildup and hype, it's really no surprise. Not content with watching the show on TV, VCD's of complete seasons are traded and sold and rented. T-shirts, mugs, keychains, and posters are sold practically everywhere, from Baclaran, Quiapo, Divisoria, to stalls outside churches! Jerry Yan, aka Dao Ming Sz, has even been signed up as the newest Bench endorser!  

And believe it or not, people are willing to shell out cash to watch the concert of a few Meteor Garden stars this September at the Ultra. With ticket prices like P3000, P5000 to as high as P10500, can you say ka-ching? 

And guess what? The Hunks, Power Four, Maskulados, and other local heartthrobs have temporarily moved over. With F4's popularity, even Piolo Pascual has said that he regrets cutting needing to get a haircut for a movie, which meant losing his F4-like hairstyle! Little girls want to be like Barbie Xu, aka Shan Cai, and for now, Barbie doll takes second place. Who can deny the fact that Filipinos have gone ga-ga over these Taiwanese actors? 

Who knows how long this fad will last? No one really knows. But one thing's for sure, it's not gonna end soon. Not if Dao Ming Sz has anything to do about it.



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