Dear Mayang Street (2020)

Amazing story! Inspiring Characters! Incredible Acting!

This is a story with a setting in a closely knitted community in South China in the 80s at the onset of the country reopening its door to the outside world. The drama depicts vividly the life experienced by common folks where street gangsters roamed and interwove into the fabric of the society. Life was tough as the country rebuilt its economy, healed from the devastation of the revolution, and stepped onto the world stage.

The Story
The story is narrated from the POV of Yi Dongdong (Niu Junfeng), one of the main characters in the story. He recounts how he has come to meet Ma Xiaoxiao (Tan Songyun aka Seven Tan) and Ou Xiaojian (Xu Weizhou aka Timmy Xu) and how the two have inspired him. Though secretly in love with Ma Xiaoxiao and his love is never being reciprocated, Yi Dongdong is happy with this status quo for years from high school till adulthood.

Ou Xiaojian and Ma Xiaoxiao have grown up together on Mayang Street, a very tightly woven community where everyone knows and helps each other in times of trouble. Both Ou Xiaojian and Ma Xiaoxiao are soulmates and later become lovers to each other. They are role models in their neighborhood and in school with highest ranking in their academic studies. Tragedies strike repeatedly in Ou Xiaojian’s life and he grows up fast. While all the kids around him still in school, wondering what life is all about, he drops out of school, enters the police academy and is thrusted into a world that even most adults cannot handle. Unbeknownst to all, he becomes a mole for the police. To gather information, he hangs out with gang members, rendering everyone thinking he has turned rogue. Daily he’s involved in gang fights and getting hurt bloodily. His mission is to collect evidence to flush out the kingpin of the organization that has a seemingly clean façade, but deeply involved in money laundering, black market, smuggling, human trafficking, frauds, cheating schemes, street gangsters, and it has a giant network that spans to multiple cities and countries.

It is both happy and sad how the story ends. It makes me cry and my heart aches for my hero. I know deep down inside somewhere, Ma Xiaoxiao still remembers Ou Xiaojian dearly and cries for him.

The Characters and The Acting
The Ou Xiaojian character is a very difficult role to portray as he is multi-dimensional. On one hand, he’s a normal kid just like everyone on the same street. He goes through the same growing pains like others. But on the other hand, he has to act tough and fearless to protect those he loves. When he becomes a mole for the police, he has to act like a bad kid to blend in with the gangsters, talking rough and mean. Son of a dead police officer, he has a heavy burden on his shoulder that he cannot let anyone see. Misunderstandings are left unexplained because he can’t; he’s always in a predicament because he doesn’t want to purposely hurt the people he cares for. He is altruistic and magnanimous, and takes care of the kids in the neighborhood and helps them grow like a big brother, he's their guardian angel and everyone looks up to him. He's inspiring and very filial pious. And yet, life is cruel to him. Like his grandmother, I’m constantly fearful for Ou Xiaojian, fearing for him getting hurt again or even getting killed. Though I smile every time he comes on screen, as he gives viewers the security that Ou Xiaojian would take care of everything and everything would be fine, I’m fearful for him. The writer has successfully captured our sympathy for the character and brought out the motherly instinct of the viewers.

Actor Xu Weizhou has a baby face that plays well as the character of a 17-18 year old teenager as Ou Xiaojian. His ‘bad-boy’ aura makes him a very convincing gangster, albeit the best looking one, with a perfect physique even among the many Chinese actors. At 185 cm height, his long legs and strong chest make his every action move extremely good to watch; he’s really an eye candy for many viewers. Either riding his motorbike, running, kicking in fights, wearing his black biker outfits, he exudes a charisma no others can match. By the end of the drama, Ou Xiaojian has become my hero and Xu Weizhou gets enlisted on my favorite actor list.

Ma Xiaoxiao lives just across the street from Ou Xiaojian’s shop/home. They love and care for each other, watching out for each other’s back constantly. Ma Xiaoxiao is mature and commanding. A role model for her street and school, she is their big sister. She pulls the kids up when they lag behind in their studies. She’s their voice in school. Her friends love her and would fight tooth and nail to help her. Just like Ou Xiaojian who sacrifices for others, she sacrifices herself to make dream come true for her sister.

Tan Songyun has done it again, this time as Ma Xiaoxiao, an 18 year-old high school girl. At her actual age of 30, she continues to amaze me for transforming herself into a teenager playing the roles so effortlessly and convincingly.

I really enjoy watching the moments when Ma Xiaoxiao and Ou Xiaojian are together, not doing much, just holding hands, heads leaning on each other or gazing into each other wordlessly. Those moments really create ripples in my heart; their chemistry is exploding.

There are numerous veterans here, and multiple young actors, all giving their tip top performances, bringing alive the characters, making us empathize and love them.

The Official Sound Tracks
This drama produces numerous wonderful sound tracks, in particular the OST We Suddenly Grow Up, reminiscing the bygone childhood from the voice of a youth, and the OST Remembering You accompanied by a harmonica intensifying the melancholy, conjuring memories of a lost love.

My Verdict
This drama is one of those that once you start watching you cannot stop because the characters just pull you in.

This is a story with a lot of complexity. Its characters are multi-layered. Its attention to details is commendable. Many norms of the era are captured and depicted vividly here, such as how precious soda was for a child, how a big deal a pair of blue jeans was, televisions and phones were considered as luxuries. Private facilities were rare and common bathrooms for the whole community were the norm. Or the cooking of spicy or fermented foods that stunk the whole street. People living together like a big family, laughing and crying on each other's shoulder. The family dynamics and interpersonal relationships are being written so well that, these are all the small details that make this drama so relatable and endearing. It does make me ponder what does it mean by “a meaningful life”. Would one be happier living in a community like they do on Mayang Street, or like we do individually away from loved ones? No doubt there is a lot of conflicts living in a community like that – parents and neighbors fighting all the time, and secrets become public knowledge in no time.

This drama brings out the resignation and humor of life. At the beginning of each episode, the writer provides a lesson learned in the ensuing scenes with a fine statement for the viewers to ponder, successfully capturing the experiences all of us may have encountered in life. Sad as it is for a short young life of Ou Xiaojian, we should also celebrate him for living a life that he finds meaning in. The writer has successfully given us a very inspirational character.

A wonderful story that makes you keep thinking about the characters. TWO THUMBS UP!

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GOOD DRAMA BUT SAD ENDING FOR ME

The first sentence I want to write for this drama is "OUXIAOJIAN ... you are the character I like the most and the HERO of this drama, even though we as viewers have to lose yourself at the end of the story, but you will still live in our hearts ... forever...."

actually I want to give even more full marks to this drama because the storyline is so good and this is one of the 1980s-era dramas that I really like (considering we rarely see Chinese dramas that take stories in the era of the year at that time) but I It is very, very heavy hearted that I can only give8/10 for the whole drama because I feel very hurt and sad for losing Ouxiaojian at the end of the story. after what he sacrificed, fought for and what he suffered from the beginning of the story to the end of this drama. I really really hope the writer gives a happy ending for him ... a simple happiness for him at least to come back to MaXiaoXiao's side (although I know that will not change the story because from the beginning it was destined for MXX to end with YiDongDong who is the narrator. in this drama).at least the author can write that OXJ went far away with MXX leaving their beloved mayang street to live a life like ordinary people who are simple and happy ...remembering how deeply their love was from their childhood until they grew up. so much of their sacrifice for their love ....

although this drama ended sadly for me, but I highly recommend this drama ... a good, real, realistic storyline surrounding the lives of many families in Mayang Street ...

Timmy Xu, Seven Tan and Niu Jun Feng as the main characters really bring this drama to life with their very good acting performance, not only the main cast, the side actors also contributed their very good acting performance to this drama.

Their acting is so real, deep storytelling and naturally actually made me cry several times when watching this drama ... there were some scenes that made my heart ache a lot and my tears were running at that time ...
1. at the time OXJ cried sadly and my heart felt like it was slashed to see him so suffering (OXJ decided to choose to live a life like an ordinary person with MXX, even he had managed to win over the heart and approval of MXX's parents to bless their relationship, but the problem hit him insistently and he had to lose his grandmother because of it)
2.When OXJ sat on the stairs crying sadly because he had just lost his grandmother and had to lose MXX again (because of the misunderstanding that MXX broke their relationship), my heart felt hurt and sad when saw him crying because he had to lose the person he loved and as if so many problems have befallen him repeatedly.
and the most heartbreaking no one knows of the kindness and struggle of his life (even risking his own life) to catch criminals and is forced to disguise himself as a police spy .... everyone condemns his actions just because they see him working in a group criminals and they don't know what the purpose of it is ...and he must accept the suffering of body and soul because of this disguise.

sorry if my review dominates Ouxiaojian because he is the shining character in my eyes in this drama ...

the song in this drama is also very good and very about right for every scene ...

and if I will repeat this drama, maybe only the sweet parts of OXJ and MXX are important points for me, besides that there are side characters who are my favorite partner (XIAOBAO and ChengHaoHao), this couple is also very sweet and funny, especially xiaobao ... I really like him .... his cheerful and laughing face looks very handsome and sweet ...and I like shun zhun too, he is really a nice guy...he is one of the Mayang street people who always believe ouxiaojian.i like his character too...

overall I give this drama 8/10 rating ...

Thank you to the cast, producer, director, writer and crew for delivering this excellent drama....

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