Blossoms Shanghai

Blossoms Shanghai, also "Blossoms", is a Chinese television series directed and produced by Wong Kar-wai. It is adapted from the novel Blossoms written by Jin Yucheng. The series is set in Shanghai in the 1990s and stars Hu Ge, Ma Yili, Tiffany Tang, and Xin Zhilei. It is the first television series directed by Wong. The series started airing on CCTV-8 and Tencent Video on December 27, 2023.

Synopsis
In the 1990s, Shanghai is brimming with promise and opportunity. Young A Bao (Hu Ge) rides on the wave of economic reform and his own hard work to become a rising star in the business world, garnering recognition along the bustling Huanghe Road. His transformation from ordinary A Bao to Mr. Bao is nurtured by the guidance of Uncle Ye (You Benchang), the companionship of Ling Zi (Ma Yili), the owner of Night Tokyo, and the camaraderie of Miss Wang (Tiffany Tang) of the foreign trade building. However, the emergence of a trendy new restaurant and its mysterious owner Li Li (Xin Zhilei) has thrown his once-thriving career into turmoil, testing his relationships with those around him. At the same time, Mr. Qiang, a Shenzhen stock market magnate, looms as a potential nemesis, capable of dealing A Bao a fatal blow. Only by forging ahead with unwavering resolve can A Bao navigate these trials and fulfill his aspirations.

Cast

 * Hu Ge as A Bao
 * Ma Yili as Ling Zi
 * Tiffany Tang as Miss Wang (Wang Mingzhu)
 * Xin Zhilei as Li Li
 * You Benchang as Ye Shu (Yaso in Shanghainese)
 * Zheng Kai as Mr Wei
 * Chen Long as Tao Tao
 * Wu Yue as Jin Hua
 * Papi Jiang as Ling Hong
 * Dong Yong as Mr Fan
 * Huang Jue as Mr Qiang
 * Chen Guoqing as Teacher Ge
 * Chloe Maayan as Min Min
 * Du Juan as Xue Zhi
 * Yumiko Cheng as Reporter
 * Deric Wan as Wen Zhao Lun [Opening star]
 * Evergreen Mak Cheung-ching as Boss Ma
 * Kenny Bee as Golden Kitchen

Pre-production
In November 2013, director-producer Wong Kar-wai approached author Jin Yucheng to secure adaptation rights for Jin's novel Blossoms, which was published six months prior. Shanghainese scriptwriter Qin Wen was invited to the project in September 2017 and given Wong and Jin's extensive research on the period drama adaptation. In March 2019, Wong Kar-wai revealed his plan on adapting Blossoms, by then an award-winning novel, at the Spring tea party of Hong Kong Screenwriters' Guild. This work would be the third of his trilogy, following In the Mood for Love and 2046, and also his first television drama series. At the tea party, he also said he had been preparing for 4 years and that the script would be completed soon. In addition, he indicated that the cast crew must speak Shanghainese. Han Zhijie, the vice president of Tencent Video, announced that the streaming service has nabbed rights to the series and that the preparations for Blossoms Shanghai have been completed and filming will start the next spring.

In March 2020, Wong Kar-Wai arrived in Shanghai to prepare for both TV series and film versions of Blossoms Shanghai. The production was originally scheduled to commence filming at Hengdian in July 2020, but Shanghai Film Group president Wang Jianer persuaded Wong to shift production back to Shanghai, promising to buy a filming base in the Songjiang district that Wong was interested in. They began to replicate scenes like Huanghe Road. The production team moved to Shanghai in August 2020. In total, Shanghai Film Group provided over 3,000 props, over 2,900 costumes, and built a 31,000-square-meter street area for filming.

On August 2, 2020, the series was officially announced at the 2020 Tencent Video annual conference, starring Hu Ge, with Shanghainese screenwriter, Qin Wen, cinematographer Peter Pau also attached to the series. On August 5, 2020, in order to recreate the period setting, the production company published a notice in the Shanghai newspaper Xinmin Evening News asking for old items from citizens related to 1990s' Shanghai. Hu Ge, Jin Yucheng, and Wong Kar-Wai shared their old sewing machine, wedding dress, and Shaoxing wine respectively as examples.

Casting
Wong Kar-wai met Hu Ge in 2017 to discuss the possible adaptation of the novel. Initially, Wong considered having Hu play all three main male characters—Lu Sheng, A Bao, and Xiao Mao—but later decided to focus on the storyline of A Bao. In 2019, casting agency CD Home Studio was engaged for the series, and Xin Zhilei was cast in the spring of that year. Actors from Shanghai Film Group, including Tiffany Tang and Chen Long, joined the crew after production shifted to the company's filming set in 2020. Hu Ge was officially announced as the male lead on August 2, 2020, at the 2020 Tencent Video annual conference. The three female leads—Ma Yili, Tiffany Tang, and Xin Zhilei—were confirmed on November 3, 2022, at the Zhejiang TV Fall investment conference. Additionally, on the same day, more cast members were announced, including You Benchang, Zheng Kai, Jonny Chen, Dong Yong, Huang Jue, Yang Haoyu, and Chloe Maayan. The majority of the main cast hails from Shanghai due to the requirement of speaking Shanghainese. Notably, over 20 alumni from the Shanghai Theatre Academy have been cast in the series.

Filming
The filming officially began in Shanghai on September 10, 2020. The main scene "Huanghe Road" was rebuilt in 1:1 scale at Shanghai Film Park in Songjiang District, Shanghai.

A veteran stock market analyst was hired as the consultant to the production to provide historical context to the volatile re-opening of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in the 1990s, as well as to suggest and verify the terminology and financial accuracy to the various stock market plotlines in the story.

In October 2022, visual director Peter Pau revealed that Wong was creating each episode of the television series in film style with 50 minutes per episode, which made the filming take over 3 years. In January 2023, Wang Jianer, the secretary of the party committee and president of Shanghai Film Group, said the series will complete filming and broadcast in 2023.

Music
57 songs are used in this series, many of which were Mandopop and Cantopop songs popular in the 1990s. Total music copyright fees are estimated to be around CNY 10 million.

Post-production
In an interview with the Department of Cinematography of Beijing Film Academy, visual director Peter Pau revealed that all color grading LUTs in the show were created by him. During the post-production period, the team was tasked to edit thirty episodes in thirty days, and the entire project was outsourced to Thailand. Since Pau was attached to another movie, he was unable to dedicate full attention to post-production color correction. Pau expressed disappointment with the color grading at the first run of the series, which he believed does not capture the optimal tone. He believes the international version of the series will have better color grading and correction.

Marketing
On June 7, 2021, the series released its first trailer, Time Is Like Water, showing the flashing memories of Hu Ge's character A Bao. On November 3, 2022, the series released the second trailer, Blossoms Are Like Brocade, which includes the debuts of three female leads and a sumptuous scene of Huanghe Road in old Shanghai.

Reception
Blossoms Shanghai was the most streamed television series nationwide when it aired between December 2023 and January 2024 on Tencent Video. The series also drew the most advertisements per episode among all dramas on streaming platforms at the time of airing, with an average of 10 advertisements per episode. The series also attracted numerous additional product placement ads from Rémy Martin, Estée Lauder, Pepsi, Bausch & Lomb, KFC, as well as tailor-made Giorgio Armani suits for actor Hu Ge, the brand's global ambassador.

Blossoms Shanghai sparked a feeling of nostalgia for many, bringing back memories of the 1990s, and the general mood of positivity and optimism in the early days of market reform. The series has also sparked the trend of Shanghainese of Wu Chinese, a dialect in decline since the push for Standard Mandarin in the 1950s.

Huanghe Road, one of the key locales featured in the series, has become a popular destination in Shanghai after the series aired. Tai Sheng Yuan Restaurant, the real-life inspiration for the fictional eatery Zhi Zhen Yuan that main character A Bao frequented, became a popular photo-taking spot. The Cathay Theater and Peace Hotel also attracted many travellers. In addition, some Shanghainese cuisine showcased in the show were highly sought after by the public.