The Greed of Man

The Greed of Man
Poster
Genre	Triad drama Stock market drama
Created by	Wai Ka-fai
Starring	Adam Cheng Damian Lau Yammie Lam Sean Lau Vivian Chow Amy Kwok
Opening theme	Ngo Dik Sing Ming Ngo Dik Ngoi (我的生命我的愛) performed by Alan Tam Sui Yuet Mou Ching (歲月無情) performed by Adam Cheng
Country of origin	Hong Kong
Original languages	Cantonese Mandarin
No. of episodes	40
Production
Running time	45 minutes each episode
Original release
Network	TVB
Release	October 1992 – 1992

The Greed of Man (Chinese: 大時代; lit. 'The Great Times') is a TV drama series broadcast by TVB in Hong Kong in 1992. The story, set in early 1990s Hong Kong and Taiwan, revolves around extremely controversial topics, ranging from violence in triad criminal organizations to corruption in the Hong Kong stock exchange. It featured a top roster cast, including veteran TVB actors Adam Cheng and Damian Lau. The series is also well remembered for a Hong Kong stock market cultural phenomenon called the "Ting Hai effect".

Synopsis

1960-1970s

Ting Hai and Fong Chun-sun were childhood friends. Ting is a stubborn, uneducated and pathologically self-righteous brute who imagines himself to be a living Kong-woo hero, while Fong is a honest, cultured and refined leader of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Fong is pressured by some of the most powerful and corrupt bureaucrats in Hong Kong to control the stock market. Immigration officers, police chiefs and government officials all attempted to cash in. Fong manipulated the market such that no one could touch him. Stock guru Yip Tin even described the event as a battle to seize control of the "Mandate of Heaven".

Fong develops strong feelings for Ting's girlfriend Lo Wei-ling, and becomes Ting's rival for her affection. In a fit of fury over Lo's disaffection, Ting cripples Fong, and later, during an ill-advised attempt at reconciliation, kills him. Without Fong's moderating influence, the 1973 stock market crash forces many people into extreme poverty. Stock manipulation was one of the justifications for the creation of the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in February 1974.

1980s

Ting Hai flees to Taiwan, where his unabated violent behavior lands him a 14 year prison sentence. Back in Hong Kong, the four Ting sons manage to build a powerful Triad crime family in their father's absence. The four brothers blame the Fong family for separating them from their father, and they harass them unrelentingly. The eldest son, Ting Hau, replays his father's relationship with Ling with one of the sisters, and is driven to violence when she rejects him. All of Fong Chun-sun's three daughters are brutally killed, while Fong's only son, Fong Chin-bok, manages to survive and escape to Taiwan. With help from his two girlfriends, Fong strikes a fortune by gambling on the stock market (not by investing, but via an indirect gambling method) and returns to Hong Kong to avenge his family. But at the same time, the Ting family's wealth and power have increased to incredible proportions via the stock market due to sheer luck in a bear market.

1990s

The final showdown between the Tings and Fongs is inspired by the backdrop of the Gulf War in 1991. Fong Chin-bok's investment company faces the Ting family in a winner-take-all, last-man-standing stock market epic battle. To raise the stakes, the Tings are financed by criminal syndicates. Fong wins the support of three of Hong Kong's wealthiest tycoons, who want to return the favour as they built their fledging financial empires with help from Fong's father back in the 1960s. The stock market rises and falls correspondingly with news of U.S. troops entering or withdrawing from the war. Eventually, the Tings make the wrong bet and their entire fortune is wiped out, compounded by ending up in billions of dollars in debt. Ting Hai forces his sons to commit suicide by jumping off from the top of the stock exchange building, before following suit, but he survives and spends the rest of his life in prison.

Legacy

Ting Hai effect

Main article: Ting Hai effect

The series, which centers on the bustling stock market during the early 1990s, has been studied by international stock brokers for its peculiar effect on the global stock market trend. A phenomenon is observed, that whenever a TV series starring Adam Cheng is aired on TV, the stock market will fall for an unexplainable reason. In 1992 when the series made its debut, the Hong Kong stock market dropped by 1200 points in one month. During an interview that year with Cheng's fellow actor Derek Kwok, Kwok said that he did not believe in the phenomenon. In 2009 when Kwok collaborated with Cheng again in The King of Snooker, the Hang Seng Index fell by 600 points again.

Others

Sean Lau's character Fong Chin-bok was involved in a love triangle with Yuen Mui and Long Kei-man, played respectively by Vivian Chow and Amy Kwok. Fong married Yuen eventually in the series, but in reality, Lau dated Kwok and married her in 1998.

Yammie Lam, who played Lo Wei-ling, became mentally insane just like her character in the series. The Hong Kong media has since speculated that she has been possessed and cannot get out of her role. In September 1998, Lam lost control of her car while driving at Repulse Bay, and was admitted into hospital. Her mental illness was announced in the following year.

The series also featured many different songs performed by top singers such as Alan Tam, Beyond and Faye Wong.

Characters

Ting family

Cast	Role	Description
Lai Hyun	Ho Chin 何賤	Ting Hai's mother. She is old and has health problems. As she was the wet nurse for the Fong family, she always sees the Fongs as her extended family, despite the rivalry between the two families.
Adam Cheng	Ting Hai 丁蟹	A stubborn, uneducated and pathologically self-righteous brute who solves his problems through violence and intimidation. He is not exactly intelligent, but has amazing streaks of luck.
David Siu	Ting How-hai 丁孝蟹	The boss of the Ting family triad. He is considered to be the most compassionate of Ting Hai's sons. He becomes cold and ruthless later.
Michael Tao	Ting Yik-hai 丁益蟹	A cruel, vulgar and unforgiving triad member.
Ng Kai-ming	Ting Wong-hai 丁旺蟹	A smart but corrupt lawyer who spends his time making money through unscrupulous means.
Derek Kwok	Ting Lei-hai 丁利蟹	An unethical doctor.

Ho Chin

Ting Hai

Ting How-hai

Ting Yik-hai

Ting Wong-hai

Ting Lei-hai

Fong family

Cast	Role	Description
Damian Lau	Fong Chun-sun 方進新	A premiere stockbroker who attempts to rid the stock market of corruption. His first wife is killed by a car driven in the wrong direction near a supermarket. He raises his four children with the help of Ting Hai's mother.
Yammie Lam	Lo Wai-ling 羅慧玲	Ting Hai's ex-girlfriend. She seeks protection from Fong Chun-sun after discovering Ting's brutal ways. She helps Fong raise his children like a stepmother, even though she is only a few years older than them. She is driven insane eventually after witnessing the destruction of her family at the hands of the Tings.
Sean Lau	Fong Chin-bok 方展博	Fong Chun-sun's only son. He enjoyed a privileged childhood when his father started off a wealthy man. However, he falls into despair and idleness after his father's death and his family's descent into poverty. When he returns to financial stability, he becomes an aggressive stock holder and vows to avenge his family.
Ng Wing-hung	Fong Fong 方芳	Fong Chun-sun's oldest daughter. She is emotional but clear-minded. She is the most "ordinary" of the Fong siblings, but is overwhelmed by events beyond her control.
Loletta Lee	Fong Ting 方婷	She is beautiful and intelligent enough to earn a good life for herself. Unfortunately, she falls in love with Ting How-hai, the son of her father's murderer and a triad boss. She realises her mistake and tries to end her relationship with Ting, but is unable to escape the disastrous consequences.
Carol Yang	Fong Man 方敏	The youngest of the Fong siblings. She is brightest and most innocent of the four. She commits suicide by jumping off a building after being raped by Ting Yik-hai, who promptly had the incident publicized.

Fong Chun-sun

Lo Wai-ling

Fong Chin-bok

Fong Fong

Fong Ting

Fong Man

Other notable characters

Cast	Role	Relations	Description
Vivian Chow	Yuen Mui 阮梅	Fong Chin-bok's love interest	She was a neighbour of the Fongs and witnessed their joys and tribulations. She is sweet, down-to-earth, pure and faithful, but extremely frugal in spending.
Amy Kwok	Long Kei-man 龍紀文	Fong Chin-bok's love interest; Long Sing-bong's daughter	She meets Fong by chance and fall in love with him. She is emotional, implusive, educated and smart. She is a clear contrast to Yuen Mui, her opponent in the love triangle.
Kenneth Tsang	Long Sing-bong 龍成邦	Long family patriarch	A corrupt sergeant-major in the Hong Kong Police Force. He flees to Taiwan in 1973 to escape from Hong Kong stock market corruption charges.
Kong Ngai	Chen Man-hin 陳萬賢	Chen To-to's father	He is utterly corrupt and ruthless. He has good stock instincts but not skilled or lucky enough to compete with the Fong and Ting families.
Bowie Lam	Chen To-to 陳滔滔	Chan Man-hin's illegitimate son	A stock market expert who unseats his father from the stock exchange leading position. He leaves New York and returns to Hong Kong after the Fong family is murdered and swears vengeance.
Law Lok-lam	Yip Tin 葉天	Fong family friend	An honest stock market guru, who fantasizes about being the god of Wall Street. He is the right-hand man of Fong Chun-sun during the 1960s and becomes the mentor of Fong's son in the 1980s. He has the right formula to winning the stock market, but is mentally unstable.
Lau Kong	Chow Chai-sang 周濟生		A drug cartel chief and highly respected elder of the triad community. He is a close ally of Long Shing-bong during the corruption period. He escapes to Taiwan together with Long and falls from power. He has an unusual penchant for Hangzhou cuisine.

Stock market tip

In the middle of the series, Fong Chin-bok receives a prophetic "Tip for Stock Market Invincibility" from his mentor, Yip Tin, who has since become mentally unstable. The words are initially arranged in an incoherent manner and not decipherable. Not until the end of the series did viewers, and Fong Chin-bok, notice what the tip is.

The original "Tip for Stock Market Invincibility" is re-arranged into a poem and then translated to :
"The original intent of the stock market is to allow a place for people to gather capital, which leads to a prosperous society where everyone gains. However, human instinct tends towards the greedy, and many will go to no end to gain unearned wealth. Thus, a paradise turns into hell, complete with ceaseless violence and killing. Countless people become penniless, even lose their lives. The winners lose all conscience and become inhuman. I have been in the stock market for years, and I have never seen a true winner. A smart person should know that this is a battlefield where no winners will emerge. There is only one way to win: leave the market early."

See also

• 1973–1974 stock market crash
• Hang Seng Index

External Links

• 'Greed of Man' Spcnet.tv Reviews