''Heroes in Black'' is a Singaporean television series loosely inspired by a Chinese short story in ''Xie Shi'' (諧史) by the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

writer Shen Shu (沈淑). The story is about a thief known as "Wolaiye" (我来也; literally "Here I Come") who stole from many wealthy households in the capital during the Southern Song dynasty. In this series, "Wolaiye" is the

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

of a constable, who teams up a magistrate to fight injustice in the county. Both of them also become love rivals because they both fall in love with a lady boss of a restaurant. The series was produced by

MediaCorp Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...

and starred

Bobby Au-yeung Robert Au-yeung Tsan-wah (born 28 July 1960) is a Hong Kong actor best known for his comedic roles in many TVB television dramas. He gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Ben Yu in the 1991 legal drama ''File of Justice' ...

Li Nanxing Jonathan Lee Nam Heng (born 7 November 1964), better known as Li Nanxing (), is a Singaporean actor and was named as 'Ah-Ge' (大哥, "big brother") of Caldecott Hill. He is also a film director and producer. Li has acted in many Chinese-lang ...

and

Fann Wong use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinat ...

in the lead roles. It was first aired on

MediaCorp Channel 8 Channel 8 ( zh, 8頻道) is a Singaporean free-to-air television channel, airing in Mandarin Chinese. It was created by Mediacorp, Television Singapura on 31 August 1963 with experimental broadcasts, before going official on 23 November that ye ...

in Singapore in 2001.

Plot

The main character in the series is a masked thief called "Wolaiye" (literally "Here I Come") who steals from corrupt officials in a city, Zhencheng, to help the poor. The citizens regard him as their hero. Wolaiye is actually the

of Song Dou, a constable who works in Zhencheng's administrative office. Song Dou aspires to serve his country but feels disappointed when he sees that the government is dominated by corrupt officials, so he decided to become a vigilante while pretending to be a constable at the same time. Feng Pobu is an official famous for his literary talent and unyielding personality. The Chancellor, who dislikes him, slanders him in front of the Emperor and causes him to be demoted and sent out of the capital to serve as an adviser to the magistrate of Zhencheng. When Feng Pobu discovers that the magistrate has been stealing national treasures and selling them to foreigners, he teams up with Song Dou and Prince Kang to stop the magistrate and expose his misdeeds. The magistrate is sacked and Feng Pobu replaces him as the new magistrate of Zhencheng. Feng Pobu continues to work together with Song Dou to bring peace to the citizens in Zhencheng. Song Dou and Feng Pobu gradually develop a love rivalry because they fall in love with the same woman: Liu Feiyan, the lady boss of a famous restaurant. Feng Pobu is attracted to her fiery personality and wants to marry her. However, she already has a crush on Wolaiye. Song Dou also has romantic feelings for Liu Feiyan, but is hesitant to reveal his identity as Wolaiye to her. The evil Chancellor is aware that the Emperor, who is childless, has the intention of abdicating the throne to his brother Prince Kang. He comes up with a scheme to turn the Emperor and Prince Kang against each other in the hope that they will destroy each other so that he can become the next emperor. At the same time, he also discovers that Song Dou's foster son, Doudou, is actually the Emperor's son because the Emperor had a secret affair with a commoner. He then sends his henchmen to kill Doudou. The Emperor falls for the Chancellor's ruse, mistakenly believes that Prince Kang is plotting against him, and orders his brother's execution. On the execution day, Song Dou, Feng Pobu, Liu Feiyan and their friends show up and manage to convince the Emperor that Prince Kang is innocent. They also bring along Doudou, who has survived the attack by the Chancellor's henchmen. The Emperor realises his folly so he removes the Chancellor from office, pardons Prince Kang and passes the throne to him. The newly enthroned Prince Kang intends to reward Song Dou and Feng Pobu by granting them titles and honours, but they reject his offers because they are only interested in winning Liu Feiyan's hand-in-marriage. The story ends with Liu Feiyan undecided on whether she should marry Song Dou or Feng Pobu while the two men debate on who can bring happiness to her.

Cast

as Feng Pobu *

as Wolaiye / Song Dou *

as Liu Feiyan * Zheng Peipei as Feng Pobu's mother * Deng Maohui as Doudou *

Apple Hong Apple Hong (; born 31 October 1978) is a Malaysia-Born Singaporean actress and singer. She was a Mediacorp artiste from 1999 to 2011 but continues to film on TV and ad-hoc basis. Career Hong was first runner-up in the Malaysian edition of Star S ...

as Liu Feiyu *

Vincent Ng Vincent Ng Cheng Hye (born 6 December 1975), also known as Weng Qinghai, is a Singaporean martial artist and former actor. He was prominently a full-time Mediacorp actor from 1997 to 2007. He is best known for acting in Chinese-language televisi ...

as Fan Yuan *

Yan Bingliang Giam Ping Leong, better known as Yan Bingliang, is a Singaporean actor best known for acting in many Chinese-language television series produced by Mediacorp Channel 8. A veteran actor, he entered the entertainment industry in 1984 after fini ...

as the Chancellor * Liang Tian as the Emperor * Li Wenhai as Prince Kang *

Richard Low Richard Low (; born 19 June 1952), also known as Liu Qianyi, is a Singaporean actor. He is best known for acting in many Chinese-language television dramas produced by MediaCorp Channel 8 and its predecessors. He also acted in some of Jack Neo's ...

as Lu Da * Ye Shipin as Lu Er * Zhou Quanxi as the Magistrate

External links

''Heroes in Black''
on MediaCorp's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Heroes in Black 2001 Singaporean television series debuts 2001 Singaporean television series endings 2000s Singaporean television series Singapore Chinese dramas Singaporean wuxia television series Channel 8 (Singapore) original programming