''Twilight of a Nation'' is a Hong Kong television series based on the events of the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It last ...

and the rise and fall of the

Taiping Heavenly Kingdom The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, later shortened to the Heavenly Kingdom or Heavenly Dynasty, was an unrecognised rebel kingdom in China and a Chinese Christian theocratic absolute monarchy from 1851 to 1864, supporting the overthrow of the Q ...

during the late

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. The 45 episodes long series was produced by Siu Sang and was first aired on

TVB Jade TVB Jade (), or simply Jade, is a Hong Kong Cantonese-language free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) as its flagship service, alongside its sister network, the English-language TVB Pearl. Br ...

in Hong Kong in November 1988. It was broadcast again on TVB in 1996. The theme songs and insert songs in the series were performed by

Roman Tam Roman Tam Pak-sin (; 12 February 1945– 18 October 2002), known professionally by his stage name Law Man (), was a Hong Kong singer. He is regarded as the "Grand Godfather of Cantopop". Career Born in Baise, Guangxi, China, with family root ...

Plot

The story begins in the late

when the government is plagued by corruption and foreign powers threaten to carve up China.

Hong Xiuquan Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...

(Hung Sau-chuen), born in an extremely poor

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

family, participates in the

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

, hoping to pass and become a government official in order to provide for his family. He fails in each attempt and suffers from a nervous breakdown. Hong joins the

Heaven and Earth Society The Tiandihui, the Heaven and Earth Society, also called Hongmen (the Vast Family), is a Chinese fraternal organization and historically a secretive folk religious sect in the vein of the Ming loyalist White Lotus Sect, the Tiandihui's a ...

later. One day, he has a revelation dream to spread

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

and claims that he is the brother of Jesus Christ, and has been empowered by God to destroy the demons (referring to the Qing forces). After rallying a group of supporters, Hong started the God-Worshipping Society to spread his religious ideas. Hong has another dream again, in which he is bestowed with a superior divine sword, known as the "Demon-Slaying Sword". Hong leads his society to start the

against the Qing government and found the

Cast

: ''Note: Some of the characters' names are in Cantonese romanisation.'' *

Ray Lui Ray Lui Leung-wai ( vi, Lữ Lương Vỹ, born 22 December 1956) is a Hong Kong actor. Born in Chợ Lớn, Saigon, Vietnam, he traces his ancestry to Lianjiang, Guangdong. He is best known for his role as "Ting Lik" in the 1980 Hong Kong te ...

as Hung Sau-chuen (洪秀全) *

Felix Wong Felix Wong Yat-wah (born September 4, 1961) is a Hong Kong actor and singer best known for his performances in many ''wuxia'' television series produced by TVB, such as '' The Legend of the Condor Heroes'' (1983), in which he played the protagoni ...

as Yeung Sau-ching (楊秀清) * Li Kwok-lun as Fung Wan-san (馮雲山) *

Sean Lau Sean Lau Ching-wan (born 16 February 1964) is a Hong Kong actor who has acted in both films and television series. He won Best Actor in the 2007 and 2015 Hong Kong Film Awards and in the 2000 and 2007 Golden Bauhinia Awards. Career Lau was born ...

as Siu Chiu-kwai (蕭朝貴) * Chan Wing-chun as Wai Cheung-fai (韋昌輝) * Newton Lai as Shek Tat-hoi (石達開) *

Aaron Kwok Aaron Kwok Fu-shing (born 26 October 1965) is a Hong Kong singer, dancer and actor. Active since the 1980s, Kwok is known as one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong pop music. Dubbed the "God of Dance", Kwok's onstage dancing is influenc ...

as Chun Yat-kong (秦日綱) * Jimmy Au as Lee Sau-sing (李秀成) * Lee Yiu-king as Chan Yuk-sing (陳玉成) * Leung Kit-wah as So Fung (蘇鳳) *

Sheren Tang Sheren Tang Shui-man (born 2 March 1966) is a Hong Kong actress. She is best known for her roles in the mega-hit Hong Kong TVB drama series '' War and Beauty'', as well as '' La Femme Desperado'', '' The Family Link'', '' Rosy Business'' and '' ...

as Hon Bo-ying (韓寶英) *

Teresa Mo Teresa Mo Shun-kwan (born 5 November 1960) is a Hong Kong actress. Background She started her career at RTV in the 1977, and joined TVB in 1981. She became famous for being cast in ''The Justice of Life'' (他來自江湖), which was based on ...

as Yip Ling (葉苓) * Money Chan as Hung Suen-kiu (洪宣嬌) *

Kiki Sheung Kiki Sheung Tin-ngoh (, born 24 July 1963) is a Hong Kong TVB actress. Kiki was originally with TVB, but moved over to rival station ATV in 1995. She moved back to TVB in 2002. Awards nominations * Nominated: Hong Kong Film Award for Best Suppo ...

as To Wai-tsan (杜惠珍) * Yung Wai-ma as Lai Suk-kuen (賴淑娟) * Carrie Choi as Fu Sin-cheung (傅善祥) *

Michael Tao Michael Tao Dai Yu (, born 26 August 1963) is a Hong Kong television actor. Career Tao entered the acting industry in the 1980s, affiliating with TVB. It was during this period that Tao earned the name "Housewife Killer" due to his overwhelmin ...

as Lee Chiu-sau (李昭壽) *

Bak Man-biu Bak Man Biu（1921–2007) was a veteran Hong Kong actor best known for his role as the Patriatch Lok Fai in the TVB drama '' A House Is Not A Home'' (1977). Career Born as Chew Hong Fook in 1921, during the 1940s, Bak was involved in Cantones ...

as Mung Dak-yan (蒙得恩) * Chu Tit-wo as Law Tai-kong (羅大綱) * Stella Wong as Yim Fu-yung (艷芙蓉) * Leung Hung-wah as Hong Yan-fat (洪仁發) * Chun Hung as Hung Yan-chung (洪仁忠) * Ma Chung-tak as Lai Chung (賴忠) * Ho Kwai-lam as Miu Pui-lam (苗佩霖) * Lau Kong as Tsang Kwok-fan (曾國藩) * Wong Wan-choi as Lee Hung-cheung (李鴻章) *

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 Justic ...

as Tsang Kwok-chuen (曾國荃) * Alan Au as Tso Chung-tong (左宗棠) * Cheung Ying-choi as To-kwong Emperor (道光) * Nixon Pang as Ham-fung Emperor (咸豐) *

Mary Hon Mary Hon is an actress from TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main ...

as Consort Yi (懿貴妃) * Pau Fong as Lam Tsak-tsui (林則徐) * Kong Ngai as Kei-ying (耆英) * Stephan Yip as Chiu Sung-nin (趙崇年) * Wilson Tsui as Kong Chung-yuen (江忠源) * Chan Tik-hak as Heung Wing (向榮) * Mak Chi-wan as Cheung Chiu (張釗) * Fung Kwok as Tin Fong (田芳) * Au Ngok as Kei-sin (琦善) * Mak Ho-wai as Yik-san (奕山) * Kwan Hoi-san as Squire See (施員外) *

Derek Kwok Derek Kwok Chi-kin (, born 10 October 1976) is a Hong Kong film director and screenwriter. He won the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards for Best New Director with his film ''The Moss''. Director *2007 ''The Pye-Dog'' *2008 ''The Moss'' *2010 ''Galla ...

Wayne Lai Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung (; born 4 May 1964) is a Hong Kong actor. He became one of Hong Kong's most successful television actors after starring in TVB hit drama series ''Rosy Business''. Lai won three TVB Anniversary Awards for Best Actor, maki ...

Production

The TV series took place in

CCTV Nanhai Studio The CCTV Nanhai Studio () is a famous set of film studio in Nanhai District of Foshan, Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Se ...

Foshan Foshan (, ), alternately romanized as Fatshan, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Twilight Of A Nation TVB dramas 1988 Hong Kong television series debuts 1988 Hong Kong television series endings Television series set in the Qing dynasty 1980s Hong Kong television series Cantonese-language television shows

Plot

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links