''The Way We Were'' () also known as ''16 Summers,'' is a 2014 Taiwanese romance drama produced by

Ruby Lin 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 = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place ...

and Lisa Tan and directed by Fu-Hsiang Hsu (許富翔; ). It stars Lin,

Weber Yang Weber Yang (; born September 11, 1980) is a Taiwanese actor. He is known for his roles in the television series ''Time Story'' (2008), ''Who's The One'' (2011), ''Two Fathers'' (2013), ''The Way We Were'' (2014) and ''A Touch of Green'' (2015). ...

Ann Hsu Hsu Wei-ning (; born 7 August 1984), also known as Tiffany Ann Hsu, is a Taiwanese actress. Hsu began her career as a model, and first came to attention for her supporting roles in the Taiwanese drama series '' It Started with a Kiss'' and its ...

Melvin Sia Melvin Sia (born 14 June 1979), is a Malaysian actor, model and singer. He won the Best Actor Award at the Malaysia Golden Awards for his role in ''Romantic Delicacies''. He also won Most Popular Actor in Viewers' Choice category in the same a ...

and Jason Tsou (鄒承恩; ) as five friends who met in college in late-1990s

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

. The series narrates a love and friendship story that spans 16 years, from the summer of 1998 to 2014. It is set against major events that occurred in Taiwan during the 16 summers, such as the 729 blackout,

921 earthquake The Chi-Chi earthquake (later also known as the Jiji earthquake) (), also known as the great earthquake of September 21 (), was a 7.3 ML or 7.7 Mw earthquake which occurred in Jiji (Chi-Chi), Nantou County, Taiwan on Tuesday, 21 Se ...

SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, ''sever ...

and the

Financial crisis of 2007–08 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

. According to online statistics collected by the website dailyview.tw, it was the most popular Taiwanese idol dramas in 2014. Another website 7headlines.com ranked it the second most popular Taiwanese drama of 2014, after ''

In a Good Way In a Good Way () is a 2013 Taiwanese romantic television series produced by Sanlih. It stars Lego Lee, Lorene Ren, Jay Shih and Smile Weng. The original title literally translates as "My freedom years" which is in reference to Taiwan's governmen ...

'' (which began broadcasting in 2013 and was therefore not included in dailyview.tw's ranking).

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

ranked it the second most-searched TV series in Taiwan in 2014, after the Korean drama '' Empress Ki''. At the 50th

Golden Bell Awards The Golden Bell Awards () is an annual Taiwanese television and radio production award presented in October or November each year by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, a division of Taiwan's Ministry of Culture. It is the ...

, the series won three out of seven nominations, including Best Television Series, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Ann Hsu.

Synopsis

While in college, Jia-Ni Tang (

) falls in love with her schoolmate and neighbour, Wei-De Fang (

), after she agrees with Wei-De's idea of an eye for an eye, when she catches her boyfriend cheating with another girl. However, broader events intervene in their romance: during the historic

1999 Jiji earthquake The Chi-Chi earthquake (later also known as the Jiji earthquake) (), also known as the great earthquake of September 21 (), was a 7.3 ML or 7.7 Mw earthquake which occurred in Jiji (Chi-Chi), Nantou County, Taiwan on Tuesday, 21 Se ...

in Taiwan, Jia Ni's friend Jun-Jie Wang (

) becomes crippled in one leg. Out of obligation and compassion, Jia-Ni decides to marry Jun-Jie. When Jia Ni and Wei-De run into each other again in 2008, she is a married woman and he is about to walk down the aisle. They are still in love but part as friends. But when fate brings the two back together at another wedding in 2013, will they make the same decision?

Cast

Main cast

as Jia-Ni Tang *

as Wei-De Fang *

Jason Tsou Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He wa ...

as Guo-Qing Ding *

as Rui-Rui Zheng *

as Jun-Jie Wang

Supporting cast

Queenie Tai Queenie Tai () is a Taiwanese actress. Filmography Film Television series Personal life On 30 June 2012, Tai married . References External links * * 1982 births 21st-century Taiwanese actresses Actresses from Taipei Living pe ...

as Ge Qing * Ke Shu Qin as Linda *

Dylan Kuo Dylan Kuo (; born 8 June 1977) is a Taiwanese actor, singer and model. He rose to fame in 2004 after playing the lead role in the television series '' The Outsiders''. He is also known as Irons Kwok, his earlier western name, and Kwok Bun-chiu, ...

as Jiang Da-wei (cameo) *

Akio Chen Akio Chen (; born 29 September 1956) is a Taiwanese actor. He won the Golden Bell Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film in 2006. He played the role of Lih in the 2004 film ''Come the Black Dog'' directed by Stan Yin. In 2009, C ...

as Wei-De's Father * Lu Hsueh-Feng as Jia-Ni's Mother * Lo Pei-An as Jia-Ni's Father * Pang Yong Zhi as Tang Jia-Xing (Jia-Ni's brother) * Albee Liu as Jia-Ni's sister-in-law * Tao Chuan-Cheng as Jun-Jie's Father * He Ai Yun as Jun-Jie's Mother * Chen Shi-Rong as Guo-Qing's Mother * Gao Ting Yu as Xiao Yao (Jia-Ni's co-worker) * Yu Jin as Ah Tai (Ding Guo-Qing's brother) * Kelly Mi as Wei-De's Mother * Lu Ying Rong as Xiao Mei *

Hank Wu Hank is a male given name. It may have been inspired by the Dutch name Henk,The Origins of 10 Nicknam ...

as Jian Zhong * Liu Sai Yang as Jiang Hua * Lai Li Hua as Chen Li * Yang Qing as Shu Ling * Zhang Xi En as Luo Xiao Jun * Shan Cheng-Ju as Jin Ge * Renzo Liu as Liang Ge * Yao Mi as Bao Bao * Eric Chou as pop singer *

Pauline Lan Pauline Lan Xinmei (; born 16 November 1965) is a Taiwanese host, actress, singer and businesswoman. Filmography Television series Film *''Myth of City'' (1985) *''The Funny Family'' (1986) *''A Book of Heroes'' (1986) *''Café. Waiting. Love ...

& TOLAKU as themselves (cameo)

Soundtrack

''The Way We Were'' Original Soundtrack (16個夏天電視原聲帶) was released on September 24, 2014 by various artists under

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

(Taiwan) Ltd. It contains 15 songs, in which of them are instrumental versions of some songs.

Eric Chou Eric Chou (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Chiu Hin-chet, born 22 June 1995) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter and actor. He has been dubbed by the Taiwanese media as "king of the lovelorn people". Chou's self-composed smash hit "The Distance of Love", the ...

appears in ep.4, ep.10, ep.14 and ep.16 as a pop singer, performing his song live. Pauline Lan and the band TOLAKU appear in ep.5 as themselves, performing their song on stage.

Production

TVBS launch of its own drama division in 2013, ''The Way We Were'' was announced to be the third drama being made by

TVBS TVBS Media Inc. (), formerly Liann Yee Production Co., Ltd. (), is a Taiwanese commercial television broadcasting company. It was originally established as a joint venture between TVB in Hong Kong and Era Group in Taiwan, but TVB took over Er ...

. It began filming in

, Taiwan, on 31 March 2014 and ended on 1 July 2014. It reported more than 2 million NTD were spent on 2 days of filming in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. It first aired in Taiwan on the

Public Television Service Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation (PTS Foundation/Public Television Service Foundation, ), also called Public Television Service (PTS, ), is the first independent public broadcasting institution in Taiwan, which broadcasts the Public Te ...

and

on 19 July 2014. And at same time, it aired in China by online video platform site iQIYI.

Special appearances

As her production, Lin invited good friends of her as cameo role or mentioned them by characters.

guest stars in the earlier episodes, as he said "(I) have to be in Ruby Lin's drama." His character mentioned

Peter Ho Peter Ho (, born September 13, 1975) is an American-Hong Kong-Taiwanese singer, actor and model based in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Since his debut in 1998, he has released seven albums and has starred in over 25 films and television series, most not ...

's name in ep.1 as an in-joke; Ho is a good friend of Kuo and Lin's in real life. In ep.3, Ruby Lin's character watched celebrity

Alec Su Alec Su You-peng (born 11 September 1973) is a Taiwanese actor, singer, television producer, and film director. Su became a popular teen idol in the 1980s as a member of the boyband ''Xiao Hu Dui''. He was known as the "Obedient Tiger" (乖乖 ...

on TV. It was another in-joke since Lin had been very good friends with Su since 1997, with the media over the years frequently asking them whether they were dating. Lin's own name as well as her claim-to-fame TV series ''

My Fair Princess ''My Fair Princess'', also known as ''Return of the Pearl Princess'' or ''Princess Returning Pearl'' (), is a 1998–1999 Taiwanese television costume drama jointly produced by Yi Ren Communications Co. (怡人傳播公司) in Taiwan and Hunan B ...

'' (1998-1999) are also mentioned in several episodes as

in-joke An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It i ...

s. In addition, every episode begins with a short message from a celebrity friend of Lin's on the topic of "farewell", including

Kevin Tsai Kevin Tsai (; born 1 March 1962) is a Taiwanese television host and writer. He co-hosts Chung T'ien Television's ''Kangsi Coming'' with hostess Dee Hsu. Early life Tsai was born to a wealthy family. His father was a well known lawyer and his f ...

(ep.1),

Zhang Ziyi Zhang Ziyi (; ; born 9 February 1979) is a Chinese actress and model. She is regarded as one of the Four Dan Actresses of China. Her first major role was in '' The Road Home'' (1999). She later gained international recognition for her role in ...

(ep.2),

Mark Chao Mark Chao (, born 25 September 1984) is a Taiwanese Canadians, Taiwanese-Canadian actor and model. He made his television debut in the television series ''Black & White (TV series), Black & White'' (2009), for which he won the Golden Bell Award fo ...

(ep.3),

(ep.4),

Vivian Hsu Vivian Hsu ( Atayal: ; ; born March 19, 1975) is a Taiwanese singer and actress. Hsu rose to prominence in Japan, where she made her first appearance in 1995 and has become a highly recognized celebrity with her countless appearances in media dur ...

(ep.5),

Jerry Yan Jerry Yan (), born Liao Yangzhen (), is a Taiwanese actor, model and singer. He is well known for his lead role as Daoming Si in the Taiwanese dramas ''Meteor Garden (2001 TV series), Meteor Garden'' and ''Meteor Garden II'', an adaptation of ...

(ep.6),

Huang Xiaoming Huang Xiaoming or Mark Huang (, born 13 November 1977) is a Chinese actor, singer, and model. He graduated from the Performance Institute of the Beijing Film Academy in 2000. Huang first rose to prominence in 2001 for playing Emperor Wu of Han in ...

(ep.7),

Tony Yang Tony Yang (; born 30 August 1982) is a Taiwanese actor who rose to prominence for his debut film role in ''Formula 17'' (2004), for which he won the Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer. He is also known for his roles in the Taiwanese box ...

(ep.8),

David Tao David Tao (), born Tao Xuzhong () (born 11 July 1969), is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning singer-songwriter. He is well known for creating a crossover genre of R&B and hard rock tunes which has now become his signature style and for havin ...

(ep.9),

Patty Hou Patty Hou (; born 20 December 1977) is a Taiwanese former news anchor. She has subsequently hosted an entertainment program on Azio TV and published the book ''Patty's About Love''. Career Hou was born in Taipei, Taiwan, she graduated with a deg ...

(ep.10),

Huang Bo Huang Bo (; born August 26, 1974) is a Chinese actor, film director, singer and the current vice-chairman of China Film Association. He is the winner of multiple Chinese film awards, and ranked 34th on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, ...

(ep.11),

Shu Qi 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_coordinate ...

(ep.12),

Cecilia Cheung Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi (in Chinese 張栢芝, born 24 May 1980) is a Hong Kong actress and cantopop singer. Cheung is considered a " Sing girl"—an actress who first received media attention through starring alongside Stephen Chow, and later ...

(ep.13),

Richie Jen Richie Jen Hsien-chi (, born 23 June 1966) is a Taiwanese singer and actor. He graduated from the Chinese Culture University's physical education department. His hits include "Too Softhearted" (), "Look Over Here, Girl" (), "The Sad Pacific" () ...

(ep.14),

Rainie Yang Rainie Yang Cheng Lin (; born 4 June 1984) is a Taiwanese singer, actress, and television host. Early life Yang was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, her father's ancestors were from Guangdong, China. She spoke Cantonese at home. By the time s ...

(ep.15), and

Ethan Juan Ethan Juan (, born 8 November 1982) is a Taiwanese actor and model. He rose to prominence with the television series '' Fated to Love You'' (2008). Juan won the Best Actor award at the 47th Golden Horse Awards for his role in '' Monga'' in 201 ...

(ep.16).

DVD release

*December 17, 2014: The Way We Were (DVD) (Taiwan Version) (16個夏天 (DVD)(台灣版)) - Public Television Service Foundation. (TW) - DVD Region 3 - 8 Dics (Ep.1-16)

Accolades

Lan Zu-wei, chairman of the 50th

jury and film critic, said “The Way We Were” is an outstanding production on the strength of its complete storyline and high artistic and commercial values. The series was praised for using character modeling, transformation of Taiwan's landscape and changes in characters' personalities to show 16 years of changes in the Taiwanese society. “The Way We Were” selected as top ten 2015 Chinese-language TV series by

Yazhou Zhoukan ''Yazhou Zhoukan'' () is a Chinese-language international affairs newsweekly. It was launched in 1987 by Michael O'Niell as a sister magazine to ''Asiaweek''. It is published by Yanzhou Zhoukan Limited (a subsidiary of Media Chinese International ...

(Asia Weekly).

Broadcast

On 12 August, Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said The Way We Were is to be broadcast on 13 TV channels in Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic — seven of Taiwan's 22 diplomatic allies — and in Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. It was chosen by the ministry following a strict screening process and will be the second Taiwanese TV series to be aired in Latin America. Taiwanese drama to air in Spanish-speaking countries
chinapost. Retrieved 08-06-2016

References

External links

PTS ''The Way We Were'' official site

Official Facebook

TVBS Official site

Official Weibo

The Way We Were TVBS 經典頻道
{{DEFAULTSORT:Way We Were (TV series), The Taiwanese romance television series Taiwanese drama television series 2014 Taiwanese television series debuts 2014 Taiwanese television series endings TVBS original programming Public Television Service original programming Television shows written by Ryan Tu