After chatting and joking around with a few familiar childhood friends for a while, Shen Kun returned home.

My mom is watching TV with Shen Qin in the living room right now, it's called "Foreign Daughter-in-Law, Local Husband". Fan Xiaopang and Chen Huilin are also there with them.

This show is quite popular with locals. It's the show that made Liu Renqi famous. This show is really long, over 4000 episodes. Yes, that's right, over 4000 episodes!!!

This sitcom, based in Guangdong, aired in 2000. Originally planned as a 60-episode series, it unexpectedly garnered a 40-point viewership rating upon its release. To put that in perspective, 40% of Guangdong's population was watching the show.

This drama can be considered a collective memory for many people from Guangdong. It reflects the realities of the era and provides insight into the social changes in Guangdong after the millennium. The characters are vivid and three-dimensional, even the supporting roles are distinctive. Of course, you can also treat it as a Cantonese language learning film, as the entire series is spoken in Cantonese, allowing you to learn authentic Cantonese.

Xianglan learns Cantonese

Distinctive characteristics of the times

The filming locations for "The Outsiders" include Xiguan mansions, tea restaurants, and the Pearl River. These locations have the strongest Guangdong elements, especially the Xiguan mansions, where the sliding doors, courtyards, and attics are all traditional Guangdong architecture. It is evident that the production team has a high degree of authenticity in restoring the traditional style, fully showcasing the real life of the people of Guangzhou, and demonstrating the production team's respect for the audience.

Xiguan Mansion

sliding door

Ru Hao Tea Restaurant

Aside from the set design, what truly reflects the production team's dedication is the core theme of the series. Because it's a sitcom, it only airs on Saturday and Sunday evenings, typically dividing a theme into two parts, using short and concise stories to illustrate that theme.

Its themes best reflect the spirit of the times. For example, episode 11, "Captured by the Cable Network," tells the story of the rise of cable television, the increasing variety of TV channels, and the fierce competition among the Kang family's wives for watching TV. Episode 19, "The Information Age," revolves around new communication tools—pagers and mobile phones. The air conditioners, televisions, pagers, and mobile phones appearing in the drama not only indicate the characters' identities and wealth but also give us a direct sense of the rapid pace of technological change in China.

The main character of episode 19, "The Information Age," is the pager.

Another manifestation of this era is the migration of people during the social changes after the millennium. People from all over the country flowed into Guangdong like streams into the broad and inclusive river of the country, and the entire story revolves around this—outsider brides marrying into Guangdong. Besides the Chaozhou bride, the second sister-in-law, the other three brides come from Henan, Shanghai, and even the United States. The story unfolds gradually from the appearance of the four daughters-in-law at Uncle Kang's birthday banquet, showing us the changing attitude of the people of Guangdong towards outsiders, from rejection to acceptance, and finally to respect and equality.

The screenwriter's intention was probably to present the countless people from other places who have made great contributions to the prosperity and development of Guangdong. Most of them are as down-to-earth and hardworking as Xianglan, as dedicated as Achan, as fashionable and shrewd as Xingzi, and as loving Chinese culture despite being far from their homeland as Diana.

Yongfang, a fellow villager from Xianglan, is passionate about entrepreneurship. He and his friends went south to Guangdong to make their fortunes. On this vibrant land, some became waiters in tea restaurants, some sold insurance in office buildings, and some boldly started their own businesses, constantly trying new things...

Innovation and pragmatism are not only the spirit of Guangdong's reform and opening up, but also the spirit of those from other places. Together, they have written the stories of strivers and jointly propelled Guangdong's prosperity and development. The movement of these people constitutes a mobile China and also composes Guangdong's great epic of struggle.

Vivid characters

Characters are the soul of a story, and well-developed characters are essential to the success of the entire series.

The current second brother, Ah Zong, is still alive. The passing of Guo Chang, the actor who played Ah Zong, shocked and saddened audiences. After all, the character was portrayed so successfully that audiences loved him even more than the protagonist, Ah Yao. He felt like a real neighbor, and audiences still habitually call him "Ah Zong" when they see the actor in real life.

Ah Zong, nicknamed "Cuttlefish Master" and "Drain Master," can be considered a representative of a segment of the urban middle class. In the drama, Ah Zong is described as "dark-skinned, thin, and clumsy," his appearance alone revealing his shrewdness and mercenary nature. The scriptwriters successfully crafted his character. In episode six, "The House-Fighting Comedy," the couple schemes against a powerful figure to get a good house, but their elaborate schemes backfire, and they ultimately fail to acquire it. This contrasts sharply with the honest and upright powerful figure.

Although he has strong businessman traits, enjoys looking at beautiful women, and isn't exactly a "perfect gentleman," Ah Zong is actually very kind and family-oriented at heart. In the drama, he brings us surprises and laughs, and his scenes with the character "Ah Jiao" are extremely brilliant, contributing a lot of laughs.

When it comes to children's education, although Ah Zong also hopes his son will succeed, he also reflects on his own actions and always respects his child's ideas. For example, shows like "Hiring Parents" and "Hoping for a Son to Succeed" reflect educational issues and both end with parents reflecting on their own actions, which is quite meaningful and thought-provoking. Just like the current trend of "tiger parents," it's essentially the same desire for their children to succeed, using methods exactly the same as those depicted in the shows—hiring tutors and sending them abroad to study.

There's also "Sister Jiao," one of the three great villains of Xiguan.

Speaking Cantonese with a strong regional accent, her specialty is ginger and scallion chicken and black bean duck. This widow with five children is known as "Sister Jiao." Hailing from Huazhou, her entrance is accompanied by sound effects—"Don't be alarmed!" "I'll chop, chop, chop!" Sister Jiao, accompanied by five "bone-melting dragons," doesn't have the most screen time, but she is quite hilarious and eye-catching.

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