Boy & Girl

Boy & Girl
Promotional poster
Also known asLove in the City
GenreRomance
Drama
Written byZhang Wei
Zhou Yong
Directed byJeffrey Chiang
StarringRuby Lin
Lu Yi
Country of originChina
No. of episodes20
Production
ProducerStanley Tong
Running time45 minutes
Original release
NetworkCCTV
ReleaseApril 25, 2003 (2003-04-25)

Boy & Girl (Chinese: 男才女貌; pinyin: Nán Cái Nǚ Mào), also known as Love in the City, is a Chinese youth drama, premiered on China Central Television (CCTV) on April 25, 2003. It dominated over all other series with an average of 80 million audience each night. The story introduces the lives of the young generation, from real-life obstacles to seeking a lover in the modern society. The series stars Ruby Lin and Lu Yi, playing the roles of Su La and Qiu Shi, respectively. It was ranked 2nd place of the highest view rating in China during its run.

Plot summary

Su La (Ruby Lin) and Yan Ru Yu (Zheng Li) (Su La's best friend), have graduated from college, Shanghai University. The two are hopelessly in love with their careers. With the face of double stress, two good friends encourage each other and swear to go explore the world out of Shanghai. As they promise, the two came to work at the same travel agency. By chance, Su La gets to meet the young successful CEO, Qiu Shi (Lu Yi). Qiu Shi is deeply attracted to Su La and starts to pursue her love. One pursue after another. However, because of her strong self-esteem and the fact that she is still recovering from the last relationship, Su La is unwilling to accept Qiu Shi. She is determined to concentrate on helping her boss, Liu Hao Dong (Yu Jin Wei), to advance the first step into Shanghai Tourism Enterprise.

In the tense society and the work competition, Su La and Yan Ru Yu is struggling to make their ways, so the two choose two different paths. Yan Ru Yu violates the work ethics, betrays the travel agency and puts the blame on Su La, who then loses her job. Because of this, their friendship is broken and they separate from each other.

However, this does not discourage Su La. Not only does she recover from the setback but she unites with her former-colleague from the travel agency. With the two of them together, they manage and own a bar for women. However, she has to go through several difficulties to get where she is. Qiu Shi, having such strong feelings for Su La. He then has forgotten about his CEO superior and is there for Su La repeatedly. The two go through bumpy roads as a couple and eventually become like family members at last. As for Yan Ru Yu, she marries her boss, Liu Hao Dong, but the result was not what she expected. After reconsidering, she chooses the correct path, and makes a fresh start in Shanghai.

This series has tried hard to unfold modern metropolis’ life with different life experience, different personality, and different experience of the youth exactly how young people's life.

Cast

Names used in the Philippines are in parentheses

Titles

Production

International broadcasts

CountryTV NetworkSeries PremiereAlternate title
China CCTV March 2003 男才女貌
Hong Kong ATV June 2003 Love in the City
Taiwan ETTV January 2004 Talented Guy & Pretty Girl
Korea iTV March 2004 Boy & Girl
Singapore Love in the City
Philippines ABS-CBN and Studio 23 August 2004 (ABS-CBN) and May 2006 (Studio 23) Serendipity
Vietnam Hanoi Television Trai tài gái sắc