The Journey: A Voyage
The Journey: A Voyage is the first season of MediaCorp Channel 8's nation-building trilogy. Production started on July 2013. It premiered on 25 November 2013 and concluded on 7 January 2014. A total of 31 episodes aired during the period. It stars Li Nanxing, Elvin Ng, Desmond Tan, Jeanette Aw, Joanne Peh, Tong Bing Yu, Pierre Png and Terence Cao as the casts of the series. The show aired at 9pm on weekdays and had a repeat telecast at 8am the following day.
The series is Channel 8's 2013 year-end blockbuster celebrating 50 years of television. It was also partly sponsored by the Media Development Authority of Singapore. The series recounts the travails of first-generation Chinese immigrants who set foot on the island of Singapore to seek their fortunes and future. The journey is one fraught with difficulties, one they must persevere to carve a niche they can call their own, build a new homeland and enjoy the fruits of their success.
This is the first periodical drama to use special effects as some of the objects used in the 1920s are not readily available in the present. Some scenes in the series will also be filmed in Penang, Ipoh of Malaysia and Yongding District, China.
The series is one of three drama serials to tie-in for 3rd-highest-rated drama serial in 2013, with an average viewership of 835,000, behind C.L.I.F. 2 and The Dream Makers.
The Journey will culminate in Singapore’s nation building celebrations in 2015. Two more seasons - ' and ' - were launched in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Plot
Facing internal threats and foreign aggression, the social and political instability of 20th century China forces her people to leave their country in droves to seek a living in Nanyang. A Hakka immigrant, Hong Shi, sails to Nanyang to work as a tin miner and lives a thrifty life. Three years later, he returns to his hometown to marry his childhood sweetheart, Lin Yazi.Shortly after their marriage, the couple returns to Nanyang by boat. Also on board, are two penniless Hakka brothers from Yongding, Zhang Tianpeng and Zhang Tianying, who seek to make a fortune in Nanyang. Unfortunately, Tianying has just gotten on board before he falls ill and passes out. Using the recent spread of contagious diseases as an excuse, the boatman is persistent to throw him into the sea, much to Tianpeng’s resistance. Hong Shi helps Tianpeng to deal with the boatman. In gratitude, Tianpeng swears an oath of brotherhood to Hong Shi. Tianpeng suspects that Tianying has contracted typhoid fever and is aware that Nanyang immigrants possess an effective medication for this disease. He pleads with the passengers from the first-class cabins for medicine but a wealthy Chinese, Zhang Guangda, drives him away. Out of sympathy, Zhang Guangda’s new concubine, Bai Mingzhu, secretly gives Tianpeng the medicine. For helping Tianpeng, Mingzhu was violated by Zhang Guangda. It turns out, Mingzhu was abducted by brigands and her father had actually hired Tianpeng to rescue her. After succeeding in doing so, Tianpeng falls in love with Mingzhu, but she was already espoused to someone else.
The boat finally arrives in Nanyang. For no apparent reason, Hong Shi is framed for a robbery-murder case and remanded in prison. Out of desperation, Yazi seeks help with a Nyonya, Zhang Huiniang and her “elder brother” Zhang Dong’en as they work hand in hand to prove Hong Shi’s innocence. Dong’en is Zhang Guangda’s nephew. His father, Zhang Guangping, married a Nyonya, Huang Zhenniang years after his wife died. When Zhenniang married into the Zhang family, she brought along her god-daughter Huiniang, who being younger than Dong’en, addresses him as “elder brother”. The two of them were initially at loggerheads, but gradually grew closer. However, being “siblings” prevent them from overstepping the boundary. Dong'en's aunt, Han Xiuxiang is jealous.
Hong Shi returns to work as a tin miner after his release, while Yazi, like the other Hakka women, becomes a “dulang woman”, panning tin for a pittance. The mine owner not only plants opium at the mine area for profits, he also exploits his miners by enticing them into sex, gambling and opium-smoking to recuperate the wages he pays out to them. To help his relative repay gambling debts, Hong Shi is also lured into gambling and eventually incurs a huge debt of $600. At the same time, Supervisor Heilong lusts after Yazi’s beauty and attempts to possess her by destroying Hong Shi.
Tianying meets Huiniang and is mesmerised by her. Believing that he is an honest and simple man, Huiniang recommends a job to him in a medicinal herbal store, where he develops a master-disciple relationship with the elderly herbalist, Chen Kuang. The old master imparts prescriptions from his lifelong research to Tianying, exhorting him to produce affordable medicines to benefit the toiling masses. Tianpeng assists Tianying in establishing the business of manufacturing medicinal products which he markets tirelessly until they become a household name. The brothers never forget to donate money to charity and uplift the standard of life in their hometown.
Hong Shi becomes a fugitive after being framed by Heilong. He abandons himself to despair and is reduced to being a beggar living in the mistaken belief that Yazi has deserted him for Heilong…
Zhenniang helms the company when Zhang Guangping dies suddenly, while Zhang Guangda is indignant and schemes to take over it. Zhenniang grooms Dong’en painstakingly, sending Huiniang and him out to the School of Hard Knocks. Going through weal and woe together can only strengthen their relationship, and Dong’en realizes that his feelings for Huiniang have grown to be more than that for a “sister”…
Dong’en and Tianpeng lead an expedition into the deep forest in search of tin mines, and unexpectedly discover the legendary “Lost Granary of Tin Nuggets”, which purportedly makes one rich overnight. Dong’en returns home “in triumph”. He grows to be more mature by day and Zhenniang is pleased that he is competent to succeed in the family business. Zhang Guangda continues to plan on seizing the map to the tin mine from his nephew. Dong’en accepts an arranged marriage and prepares to visit his ancestral village to tie the knot, Huiniang is dejected. While Zhenniang accompanies Dong’en to the village to meet his prospective wife, Zhang Guangda finds his chance to harm them… With the family business already in his hands, Zhang Guangda spares no time to harm Dong’en. Suffering from mercury poisoning, Dong’en waits in agony for an opportunity to retaliate. He vows to regain his parents’ hard-earned business and to secure a life partner for Huiniang…
Cast
Main cast
Zhang (Tianpeng) family
Zhang (Dong'en) family
Hong family
Other cast
Episodic synopsis
For a more comprehensive synopsis, see List of The Journey episodes.| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
Overseas broadcast
According to series premiere date:| Country | Network | Series premiere | Timeslot |
| Astro Shuang Xing | December 12, 2013 - January 23, 2014 | Mondays to Fridays 16:30 pm Repeat Mondays to Fridays 15:30 pm | |
| Astro AEC | TBA | Mondays to Fridays 20:30 pm | |
| Astro Quan Jia HD | TBA | Mondays to Fridays 20:30 pm | |
| MediaCorp 8 International | Mondays to Fridays 19:00 pm | ||
| PPCTV Channel 9 | September 28, 2014 | Mondays to Sundays 12:00 pm and 21:00 pm | |
| Thai Public Broadcasting Service | - | Saturdays to Sundays 20:15 pm |
Trivia
- Huang Biren was slated to star in this series, but she had to turn down the role weeks before filming commenced because a painful 10 cm cyst had grown in her kidney. Her role, Huang Zhen Niang, has since been taken by Carole Lin.
- Originally, the first season was planned to have 30 episodes. One additional episode was added for a total of 31 episodes. Due to the celebration of TV50, the drama was pre-empted on 31 Dec 2013.
- Allen Chen's debut drama series.
- Li Nanxing collaborates with Pierre Png for the third consecutive time in this series.
- The season will mark the third pair-up between Elvin Ng and Joanne Peh, after A Life of Hope and Happily Ever After.
- In episodes 7 from episode 97 onwards of 118, Dennis Chew calls Li Feihui "Terence Cao".
- Huang Biren is seen watching from her tablet the scene where Heilong is struggling to crawl in the riverside after getting his right leg eaten by the crocodile in episode 20 of Tiger Mum.
- Elvin Ng first collaboration with Ivan Lo as younger version of his character
- Joanne Peh first collaboration with Chloe Ng as younger version of her character
- The Series repeat its telecast on Channel 8 at 5.30pm.
- The Series was repeated on Channel 8 at 4:30pm – 6:30pm on weekends after succeeding The Caregivers.
- This show was adapted as a comic and has been selling at Popular Bookstores since March 2014, targeting at primary and secondary students. The comic showcases the best of the series, and is promoted by the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning.
Music