Treasure Venture

"TREASURE VENTURE" had great potential to be a successful production with a promising cast: the new rising star Vicky Zhao and Taiwan heartthrob Nicky Wu. However, the series turns out to be very disappointing.

The story goes like this: During the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor orders three people to go in search for a famous country and people management book. The book is hidden in the first Ming emperor’s tomb, together with a large amount of gold. The three people who went into the tomb are the Emperor’s royal brother Chen Wong Ye, an official Lu Duan Wen and his wife. In order to open the tomb, they need three keys. While in the tomb, Chen Wong Ye wants to kill Lu Duan Wen and his wife so he could take the treasure and the book as he wants to overthrow his brother and becomes the emperor himself. Fortunately, Lu Duan Wen and his wife are saved by a grave thief named Li Jia Li and Chen Wong Ye escapes with one key. Lu Duan Wen and his wife keep one key while the grave thief keeps the other key. Together, they propose a pact that their children would get married. On the way home, Lu Duan Wen goes into labour and gives birth to a baby girl with the help of a kind old man named Wu Ma. However, she dies soon after that.

Treasure Venture (2000) Section: Taiwan

• Reviewed by TKL

"TREASURE VENTURE" had great potential to be a successful production with a promising cast: the new rising star Vicky Zhao and Taiwan heartthrob Nicky Wu. However, the series turns out to be very disappointing.

The story goes like this: During the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor orders three people to go in search for a famous country and people management book. The book is hidden in the first Ming emperor’s tomb, together with a large amount of gold. The three people who went into the tomb are the Emperor’s royal brother Chen Wong Ye, an official Lu Duan Wen and his wife. In order to open the tomb, they need three keys. While in the tomb, Chen Wong Ye wants to kill Lu Duan Wen and his wife so he could take the treasure and the book as he wants to overthrow his brother and becomes the emperor himself. Fortunately, Lu Duan Wen and his wife are saved by a grave thief named Li Jia Li and Chen Wong Ye escapes with one key. Lu Duan Wen and his wife keep one key while the grave thief keeps the other key. Together, they propose a pact that their children would get married. On the way home, Lu Duan Wen goes into labour and gives birth to a baby girl with the help of a kind old man named Wu Ma. However, she dies soon after that.

Many years later, Lu Duan Wen’s daughter, Lu Jian Ping (Vicky Zhao) grows up to be a playful girl who always dresses up as a man. Wu Ma is now her nanny and he cares for her like his own daughter. As she has Wu Ma as her nanny, Lu Jian Ping does not know anything about being a girl. While out in the street causing trouble, she meets and becomes friends with two little monks: Xiao Lung and Xiao Fou, a rich but very nice guy Zhu Yu Lung (played by Lin Jia Hua), and a poor scholar Shui Ruo Han (played by Nicky Wu) whom she later employed to teach her art and literature. Lu Jian Ping with the help of Wu Ma is able to perform extraordinary sword techniques. The Emperor invites her into the palace thinking that she is a talented man. After knowing her identity, he orders her to marry the second Prince. However, Lu Jian Ping does not know that the second Prince is Zhu Yu Lung who likes to disguise himself as a commoner.

During this time, her father is attacked one night and the key is stolen. Wu Ma injures the thief but he managed to escape. The thief turns out to be Shui Ruo Han who is in fact a professional assassin working for the secret agency of Royal Chief Eunuch, Cao You Xiang. The two little monks save Shui Ruo Han and take the key back to the Shaolin Temple thinking that it is a strange weapon. In order to avoid the marriage to second Prince, Lu Jian Ping decided to run away from home with Wu Ma to Shiao Lin Temple. She is joined by Zhu Yu Lung (who has fallen in love with her and decides to prove his true love to her) and Shui Ruo Han (who is on his way to Shaolin Temple to get the key back). Shui Ruo Han is also captivated by Lu Jian Ping’s innocence and carefree nature.

At the temple, Lu Jian Ping saves and makes friend with a gentle girl named Bai Rui Xue (played by Liu Zhi) who is actually Shui Ruo Han’s martial sister and has also fallen in love with him. Her love turns to hatred when he rejects her in favour of Lu Jian Ping. The series basically revolves around the search for three keys and the love relationship involving Lu Jian Ping, Shui Ruo Han, Zhu Yu Lung and Bai Rui Xue. Each character in this series has a secret and these secrets would be revealed as the series goes on but I am not going to explain here.

There are many factors that contribute to the failure of this series to capture the audience, though it has a very strong cast. First of all, that would be Vicky Zhao’s character. She is once again trapped in this type of "Little Swallow" role. She once again plays a cheerful girl who is meant to bring laughter to the audience. However, in a not-too-harshly-put way, she also plays the role of a silly girl who cannot learn or remember anything and acts without thinking of consequences. I experienced the same frustration watching this series as when I watched HZGG II. The script allows no room for Vicky Zhao’s character to mature. After experiencing life and death situation, Lu Jian Ping is still a silly girl who shows no improvement in kung-fu skills and her intellectuals. Vicky Zhao does look charming and cute though. It was great watching her in the first few episodes as she plays to perfection the role of a cheerful, innocent, and honest girl.

vicki zhao wei as Lu Jian Ping