Drama revives Macao's wartime past

Liang Renhong, the show's chief producer, revealed that the project took five years to complete, from early preparation and scriptwriting to filming. A total of 23 replicas of historic buildings were constructed on sets in Jiangmen and Foshan, in South China's Guangdong province, enabling 85 percent of the scenes to be shot locally.

Ma Kin-yee, the great-granddaughter of Ma Man-kei, said she was thrilled to watch the drama inspired by real-life stories in which her great-grandfather appears as one of the major characters. 

"From a young age, I have been familiar with many of his moving and heroic stories. The drama faithfully follows historical events, depicting the unforgettable hardships endured by the people of Macao in the 1940s, which is profoundly touching," she said. 

At the time, Macao covered an area of about 20 square kilometers but was crowded with some 400,000 refugees who had fled from across the Chinese mainland. The city had few productive resources, and even access to drinking water was a major challenge, Ma recalled. She added that Ma Man-kei contracted tuberculosis from overwork. "When he coughed up blood, my great-grandmother cared for him despite the risk of infection."

Ma Kin-yee added that Macao continues to honor these patriots today, as seen in landmarks such as the Comendador Ho Yin Garden and Avenida Doutor Ma Man Kei.

As one of the most popular TV dramas on CCTV-1 in December, Silent Tides, starring Ren Jialun and Lan Yingying, has generated over 600 million views for related topics on Sina Weibo and over 900 million views on Douyin.