Genre: | Wuxia Action Comedy |
Director: | Lee Kwok-lap |
Starring: | Wallace Huo Cecilia Liu Ma Tianyu Shi Xingyu |
Opentheme: | The Opening of the World and Plum Blossoms by Hu Ge |
Endtheme: | Bird of Paradise by Zheng Jiajia |
Country: | China |
Language: | Mandarin |
Num Episodes: | 30 |
Producer: | Karen Tsoi |
Location: | China |
Runtime: | 45 minutes per episode |
Company: | Chinese Entertainment Shanghai |
Channel: | Jiangsu TV |
T: | 怪俠一枝梅 |
S: | 怪侠一枝梅 |
P: | Guàixiá Yìzhīméi |
Piccap: | Intertitle |
The Vigilantes in Masks is a 2010 Chinese television series based on folktales of a Robin Hood-style hero who lived in the Ming Dynasty. Produced by Chinese Entertainment Shanghai, the series star Wallace Huo, Cecilia Liu, Ma Tianyu and Shi Xingyu. Previous adaptations include a 1960 Hong Kong television series, a 1994 film, a 2005 TVB production, a 2008 SBS South Korean television drama, Iljimae, and a 2009 MBC South Korean adaptation The Return of Iljimae.
Li Gexiao is a master in martial arts with intelligence matching his skills. Previously a high ranking Embroidered Uniform Guard with great judicial authority. However, after framed with a crime he had not commit and his family executed, the former marshal had no choice but to become a fugitive. Years later (beginning of the series), he came out of hiding to help a former colleague recover a cargo of stolen gold for disaster relief. He and three chivalrous strangers, thief Yan Sanniang, grifter He Xiaomei, and strongman Chai Hu, unite to form a heroic band of masked vigilantes called "Yi Zhi Mei" (One Blossom Branch) that steals from the wealthiest and the most corrupted to help the people in need, always leaving a plum flower at the scene as their calling card. In the jianghu, they are also a renowned team that fights against injustice, corruption and oppression by the government.