The Greed of Man
| The Greed of Man 大時代 |
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Official Poster
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| Genre |
Financial thriller Drama |
| Created by | Wai Ka-fai |
| Screenplay by | Kwan Ching-man Chan Po-yin Ng Lap-kwong Fong Sai-keung Cheung Lei-lei Chan Po-wah Lung Man-hong Cheung Po-yin Kwan Ching-wan |
| Directed by | Yuen Ying-ming Yau Nam-lung Lau Chun-ming Wong Chun-man Lam Kin-lung Fung Pak-yuen Lin Chi-fan |
| Starring |
Adam Cheng Sean Lau Yammie Lam Vivian Chow Amy Kwok David Siu Damian Lau Bowie Lam Michael Tao |
| Opening theme |
Ngo Dik Sang Ming Ngo Dik Ngoi (我的生命我的愛; 'My Life, My Passion') performed by Alan Tam Sui Yuet Mou Ching (歲月無情; 'Ruthless Life') performed by Adam Cheng |
| Country of origin | Hong Kong |
| Original language(s) | Cantonese |
| No. of episodes | 40 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Wai Ka-fai |
| Running time | 45 minutes each episode |
| Release | |
| Original network | TVB Jade |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 5 October – 27 November 1992 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| The Greed of Man | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 大時代 | ||||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 大时代 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | The Great Times | ||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Dà Shí Dài |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | Daai6 Si4 Doi6 |
The Greed of Man is a Hong Kong television series first broadcast on TVB Jade in 1992. The story, spanning three decades from the 1970s to the 1990s in Hong Kong and Taiwan, addresses various social and financial phenomena of the times, from triad violence to corruption in the . It featured a top roster cast, including veteran TVB actors Adam Cheng and Damian Lau and award-winning actor Sean Lau. The series is also well remembered for a Hong Kong stock market cultural phenomenon called the "Ting Hai effect".
Ting Hai and Fong Chun-sun were childhood friends. Ting is a stubborn, uneducated and pathologically self-righteous brute who imagines himself to be a living kong-woo hero, while Fong is an honest, cultured and refined leader of the Asian Stock Exchange. Fong is pressured by some of the most powerful and corrupt bureaucrats in Hong Kong to control the stock market. Immigration officers, police chiefs and government officials all attempt to cash in. Fong manipulates the market such that no one could touch him. The stock guru Yip Tin describes the event as a battle to seize control of the "Mandate of Heaven".
Fong develops strong feelings for Ting's girlfriend Lo Wei-ling, and becomes Ting's rival for her affection. In a fit of fury over Lo's disaffection, Ting cripples Fong, and later, during an ill-advised attempt at reconciliation, kills him. Without Fong's moderating influence, the forces many people into extreme poverty. Stock manipulation is one justification for the creation of the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in February 1974.
Ting Hai flees to Taiwan, where his unabatedly violent behaviour lands him a 14-year prison sentence. Back in Hong Kong, Ting's four sons manage to build a powerful triad in their father's absence. The four brothers blame the Fong family for separating them from their father, and they harass them unrelentingly. The eldest son, Ting How-hai, replays his father's relationship with Lo Wei-ling on one of the Fong sisters, and is driven to violence when she rejects him. Ting Hai returns to Hong Kong and is convicted of murder, but is pardoned using a forged certification of terminal illness. All of Fong Chun-sun's three daughters are brutally killed, while Fong's only son, Fong Chin-bok, manages to survive and escape to Taiwan. With help from his two girlfriends, Fong strikes a fortune by gambling on the stock market (not by investing, but via an indirect gambling method) and returns to Hong Kong to avenge his family. At the same time, the Ting family's wealth and power have increased to incredible proportions via the stock market due to sheer luck in the 1987 bear market.
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Wikipedia