Steven Ma, martial arts master; Kenneth Ma, enigmatic.

Steven Ma in the ancient drama series, The life and times of a Sentinel, portrays a highly skilled martial arts imperial guard. In the series, as a common citizen passing the exam he enters the palace as an imperial guard. Steven says: This series has lots of fighting scenes. Luckily I have collaborated in the past with this very martial arts choreographer so he knows the level of my kung fu skill. My character knows a variety of kung fu styles such as taichi, wing chun, etc. But performing them were not so arduous because the weather was relatively cool and also the body double helped out. Actually this role is quite fun, lots of acting from within, my most since my debuted series, very challenging.

In the ancient drama series, Kenneth Ma portrays 2nd Prince who is extremely meticulous and ruthless. In the series, he uses Steven as a pawn to hopefully overthrow Kang Xi, but Steven gradually wises up to his true colors. Kenneth says: The dialogs in the series are more on the genteel side, when performed were quite arduous! Moreover, this character is an enigmatic person, needs lots of acting from within, in the past, I had never acted this kind of somber character, so to me it had a certain level of difficulty.

Synopsis:

Sunzhi18th year. Emperor Sunzhi (Sunny Chan) disillusioned with worldly life shaves head for a monastic life. He has set his mind to pass the throne to 2nd Brother, Fuk Quan (Kenneth Ma), but Xiao Zhuang (Ching Hor Wai) thinks Fu Quan is unscrupulous so with a fake posthumous edict enabled 3rd Brother, Xuan Ye, (Power Chan) to become Emperor KangXi, instead. When Sunzhi finds out he writes a secret missive, one half of which falls into the hands of young Qi Jun Jie's (Steven Ma) father, Qi Wan Chang (Felix Lok). Because of that, Wan Chang (Felix) is pursued and later killed by assassins. In the chaos, Felix hurriedly leaves Jun Jie (Steven) on a flood area under a bridge. Unfortunately, Jun Jie (Steven) eventually got lost and is latter found and taken care of by Zi Ning's (Selena Li) father, Shu Tang, (KK Cheung) who is an anti Qing loyalist.

The series tells of how Fu Quan (KM) uses loyal Qi Jun Jie (SM) and also Concubine Man Yun's (Elaine Yiu) father's army, in a calculated step by step attempt to seize the throne. Jun Jie (SM), because of support from KangXi and Fu Quan, becomes an imperial guard, and through it engages in a same generation interaction with them. When he belatedly finds out about his family background and the identity of the enemy who killed his whole family, he is caught between a rock and a hard place.

Source: AOD Magazine: kuangaitvb@weibo
Translated by Tamaya @ steven ma fanblog