SINGAPORE: Ex-Mediacorp leading male actor Dai Xiangyu, who was known as Dai Yangtian back then, will be back in Singapore on June 19 to promote his new drama, Sisterhood – a Chinese version of Singapore’s historically significant drama Samsui Women which was released 37 years ago.
“I lived in Singapore for over 10 years and it is my second home. It feels familiar. There are many things I want to eat, such as popiah, Hokkien mee and laksa.. I miss popiah!” the actor admitted in an interview with Shin Min Daily News.
The actor, Xiangyu, was best remembered for being part of 2008’s Little Nyonya. He was a full-time Mediacorp artist from 2007 to 2013.
He then asked the reporters about his old friends, specifically Elvin Ng, Desmond Tan, and Jeanette Aw. They all worked on a project in 2010 entitled Breakout. Further, Jeanette was also part of The Little Nyonya. When he knew they were all still active in showbiz, he remarked: “That’s good!”
Dai Xiangyu also expressed that his Chinese wife, Chen Zihan, would have wanted to come and visit Singapore but was not able to take her leave from her work.
The drama that he will promote, Sisterhood, is about the difficulties of samsui women who moved from China to Singapore to earn money and support their families. These women entered construction work and agreed to do physically challenging tasks such as moving bricks, carrying wooden planks, and mixing concrete. In this drama, Xiangyu plays a gangster with a love interest for a samsui woman, which will be played by Yelena Shaw.
Both the artists, Dai Xiangyu and Yelena Shaw, acted as a couple in the Chinese version of Little Nyonya in 2020.