“Shades of Life” Receives Complaints For Inaccurate Content

TVB’s new weekly drama, Shades of Life <我們的天空>, airs every Sunday evening with each episode dedicated to a different story that reflects Hong Kong’s society. The second episode received an average of 24 viewership points and peaked at 25 points, which is a 6-point increase from its premiere week. But despite its rising viewership, the series in general has already garnered heavy criticism and received over 1500 complaints.

Viewers claimed the series’ content to be biased and inaccurate, misleading its audience. Furthermore, they claimed the series demonizes the people of Hong Kong and undermines the city’s international image. In contrast to TVB’s earlier promotions stating that the series truly reflects Hong Kong society, viewers believe certain scenes distort societal situations instead.

Other complaints stated the series features poor content and is of low quality. Some pointed out there is political propaganda involved. Many viewers claimed they were simply disturbed and felt uneasy while watching the series. Three complaints were directed solely at the second episode, titled Same Root. Oceane Zhu (朱璇) starred as a young mainland mother facing a new life with her daughter in Hong Kong. Viewers mainly criticized its failure to accurately capture Hong Kong’s current social situation.

In response to the heavy volume of negative feedback, Deputy Director of External Affairs, Tsang Sing Ming (曾醒明), stated, “Shades of Life – Same Root realistically reflects personal problems of Hong Kong citizens. No matter who you are, the series hopes to have everyone care for our society. The producer of the series, Franklin Wong (黃華麒), has already predicted differences in opinion towards stories that aim to reflect reality.”

Source: ihktv.com

This article is written by Shirley for JayneStars.com.

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Responses

  1. cheap quality apply to all dramas.

    Oceane’s acting is not bad.

  2. i thought it was a pretty good episode! had a good message at the end, everybody in HK all came from the same roots, we should all learn to care and love for one another!

  3. For sure than people complaint about the drama… When the story talk negative about them…

    For me the story is fair… Not majority hk peoples is like that but some…

    So far, I like the drama…

  4. I think the drama was rather somewhat accurate in the second episode. Even though China is supposedly doing better than Hong Kong, Hong Kongers still hold themselves in high regards

    1. High regards in what? TV quality or very much more important people?

  5. The second episode did feel a lot like propaganda

  6. mainlanders who are enable to come to hk are mostly rich ppl that can buy properties and send their children to a renowned school,and not poor ppl living in a “tong fong”,this is a distorted social representation, in fact millions of hk ppl are the one who are living in this unbearable situation.

    1. I think the setting was more fitting for the 90’s or something, before China got “rich”. Seems like the typical old storyline where some Hong Kong dude has a wife from China and bring them down to HK to live with them.

    2. that’s perhaps what it seem like b/c that’s what you hear on tv and on the news. why would poor mainlanders ever make it on tv/news. i don’t think most mainlanders migrated to hk are mostly rich. there are alot who living in gov housing. those were misrepped.

      1. mainlanders who migrates to hk knows how the life quality is when you dont have money,still they come,therefor i dont have compassion when they have a hard time.but lower class hk ppl dont have a choice,they cant even rent a normal appartment,and not mention all those who lives under the bridges on the streets. due to the many rich mainlanders who buys propperties in hk the prices becomes higher and higher,so that even the middle class ppl in hk cant buy a house for themself.

  7. Actually, the setting quite fits hk today. even china has given the image of becoming richer, the majority of people who immigrate to hk are low income earners. and mainland girls still marry hk guys.

    From the viewer complaints, it seems that hk audience has totally missed the point of the episode. it was encouraging compromise and patience towards mainland immigrants, not saying that hk people are in the wrong. in fact it is promoting that don’t be put off by external stereotypes and try to spend some time to know the person before you give a judgement. you might still up hating the person, but at least you know ir is because of their person and not their identity.

    the series never said all mainland people wre good and all hk people are bad. thry pointed the bad behaviour of the mainland visitors as well. there were heaps of good hk people in the episode as well but the complaintees only seemed to remember the bad examples.

    like the grandfather said, give them time to assimilate into hk culture. we need to tell them what they are doing wrong, but should allow them time to change and adapt.

    i quite liked the episode. oceane was quite good. i hope tvb makes more of these series than stupid slapstick comedies.

    1. Good points,but I think it us not just low income earners that hope to come to HK. As we can see many famous Chinese actresses that make quite a bit of income still hope to marry a HK actor to immigrate to HK. It still feels like many want to leave China to immigrate elsewhere even if life there is better than before. I had many students from mainland want to find a chance to stay in the US. But the ones from Korea,Taiwan,Japan,HK and other countries all want to go home as soon as they graduate. I think there must be several reasons for them not wanting to return to China even if they grew up there and their family is still there.

      1. True. Life in most of China has improved since it opened up but life is still bad. There are little to none welfare for the old and sick. There is a fierce competition for jobs and housing. Apartments are expensive yet though paid off, get returned to be government property after a certain amount of years. Traffic sucks big time. Food is contaminated. Air is polluted.

        Basically, general life in china doea not give that much security as overseas countries or hk. Thats why the wealthier packs are flooding to western countries. The not so wealthy class move to hk. Once thry get citizenship, then they can apply for the family left behind to be immigrated there on account of financial dependency and then welfare benefits kick in.

        I live in Australia and right now, some people are not that happy with the chinese for raising all the property prices and taking up academic places. Some mainland immigrants can be really rude, dirty and arrogant. I experience pretty much similar conflicts that the hk people have with the mainland chinese, but still, i think we should give them a chance though it is a real strain on tolerance and patience. I feel like banging my head against the walk at times when they can be very unreasonable and unhygienic.

        In a way, before we condemn the mainland chinese, we need to look to ourselves as well. Why are they taking our scholarships and jobs? Aussie culture can be very casual and relaxed which is good for health but not for productivity. The enthusiasm of the chinese culture really does make a stark contrast when it comes to productivity, efficiency and profit. Australians do work hard but the Chinese are workaholics. At least they pay taxes and not just take like some dole bulgers.

        Hk government needs to reform so that it can accept mainland immigrants yet guarantee some job/housing security for its own citizens so this escalating tension can be relieved.

        We do not need any more hate in this world. A step back gives a broader horizon. I am not biased against the hk people in their plight but the namecalling and verbal attacks has gone too far. You can still be assertive in a civil manner.

      2. You are wrong, Famous Chinese actress doesn’t immigrate to HK instead they head to Singapore.Famous one like Jet Li or Vicki Zhou had moved to Singapore few years ago.

  8. I really like the show and will be looking forward to future episodes. No complaints from me but then, I’m from New York so what do I know about HK society problems?

  9. HK people spit and litter in public too. I don’t understand why keep talking down on own “chinese” people.

    Majority of people that live in HK, their parents/ancestor were originally from China.

    I just don’t understand why HK people think so highly on themselves. They desperately want to move to the US or Canada too. I went to HK to visit my aunts and families from around came and asked my aunt if she has connection to help their sons.

    HK belongs to China so what’s the big deal if people from China want to travel to HK. I live in the US and I can travel to other states or even canada at anytime without any hassel. HK just need to accept the fact that they are the same roots. They are just all about the appearance but they are just ghetto, they don’t tip in the US, (super stingy).

    1. I guess it depend on how hk people grew up with.Back in my high school days, I knew some hk people and they all pretty much hang out with mainlanders.

  10. I thought it was a fair portrayal. Doesn’t change my opinion of HK or mainland people.

  11. i just watched half the episode. not bad, it’s pretty good and realistic about the social issues in hk. no exaggerations.

  12. I’ve always felt that Oceane can act very well but somehow speaking Cantonese limits her acting in many ways. She gives off different vibes when she doesn’t need to speak Cantonese. I think she should leave TVB and try acting in China or Taiwan instead.

  13. It’s supposed to be a slice of life series, instead it’s taken certain aspects of Hong Kong life and exaggerated them to become not-everyday examples of life.

    I think the problem some Hong Kong-ers have is that the second episode tried to make it out like the Hong Kong citizens are the unreasonable ones and that Mainlanders are generally picked on and misunderstood.

    Most of you live in Western countries so it’s hard to understand the cultural aspect of it. Even myself, at first I thought the Hong Kong people were taking the whole China/Mainlanders thing way out of proportion and being unreasonable but after a year in Hong Kong teaching English, you start to understand why the people of Hong Kong are unhappy with China. Stereotypes start off for a reason and unfortunately, my experience with Mainlanders in Hong Kong were generally more on the bad side than good.

    Also when we live in Western countries, we take democracy for granted. After the 50 year law, Hong Kong could basically lose it’s democracy and that’s something that worries many of the younger/mid generation. Many have this idea that China is basically taking things away from them, taking away their freedom, taking away their jobs, taking away academic places and housing.

    However, I think Oceane did a great job in the episode.

  14. I think the only part that is not accurate is when they moved to the new room. The new room was nicer and bigger than their old one lols. I thought they were getting more poor?

  15. For all of you saying that it’s not such a big deal, how many of you live in Hong Kong? How many of you understand the situation there first hand?

    I don’t and so it’s unfair for me and any of you who live somewhere else to judge.

    Living in Canada, I can say that my experience with Mainlanders are not so great.

    1. “Mainlanders are not so great.”

      Yep, in general, Mainlanders did not leave a good impression of themselves on me.

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