HONG KONG — In a poignant finale airing tonight, TVB’s travel-and-culture program Jianghu See concludes its run as veteran actors Lai Yiu-cheung and Mak Cheung-ching traverse historic Silk Road landmarks, revisiting decades of friendship and the bittersweet craft of letting go of the characters they’ve played.
The episode, the last of the series, takes the duo to the Yangguan and Yumen passes — ancient gateways for trade and military defense — as well as the Yadan National Geological Park in northwestern China. On location, the pair couldn’t resist reenacting the classic Chinese saying: “You take your Yangguan path; I’ll cross my single-log bridge,” a playful nod to their enduring but separate career trajectories.
Yet the real journey was inward. After a rugged desert off-road ride, the actors opened up about their bond, which began in 1996 when they co-starred in the TVB drama Journey to the West. “We were roommates on location back then,” Lai recalled, smiling. Mak, visibly emotional, added: “You’d sit and talk with me, teach me so many things.” Lai then revealed he has struggled with social anxiety — a vulnerability rarely discussed in Hong Kong’s entertainment industry.
The duo also delved into the emotional weight of saying goodbye to the characters they’ve embodied. Lai quoted the Tang dynasty poet Li Shangyin: “It is hard to meet, and hard to part.” He explained, “When you fully immerse yourself in a role, you become friends with that character. But once the shoot ends, you will never meet that friend again.” Mak agreed, saying, “Every role is a different life. In a strict sense, it’s a permanent farewell.”
From Desert to Dinner Table
Under the guidance of travel expert Chen Zhihua, the pair explored a bustling night market, sampling local specialties like lamb-pilaf rice, beef hand-grabbed rice, Mobei grilled fish, and sand-onion beef pies. Lai queued for half an hour just to taste a dish — a gesture that earned him laughter and praise from locals.
Earlier episodes had taken viewers to the Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu, the Leiyin Temple in Dunhuang, and the Mogao Caves, where millennia-old statues and mineral-pigment murals still glow. The program explained that ancient travelers required a “guanzhao” — essentially a passport — to enter the Western Regions, and noted that the term remains in modern Chinese slang for “special care.”
A Camel That Hated Work, and a Staircase That Terrified
At the Mingsha Sand Dunes, the actors rode camels — but one camel, Lai joked, “looked like it really didn’t want to go to work.” He laughed, “That’s exactly like me — I hate working too!”
For Mak, the desert staircase was a personal nightmare. Already nursing a “stair phobia” from climbing endless steps during filming, he struggled up the sandy slope, nearly falling. “One step forward, half a step stumbling — it felt like running,” he said. Upon reaching the top, he jokingly demanded a pay raise.
TV Magic: How a Dongguan Construction Site Became the Flaming Mountains
The two also recalled behind-the-scenes secrets from Journey to the West, revealing that the show’s epic desert and Flaming Mountains scenes were actually filmed in a derelict construction site in Dongguan, Guangdong province. Lai marveled: “The television world is truly a magical trick.”
Broader Impact
Jianghu See is more than a travelogue — it’s a meditation on memory, mortality, and the art of letting go. For Lai and Mak, the show marks not just the end of a series, but a chance to close a chapter on 30 years of shared history. As the final credits roll, viewers are left with a lasting question: How do we say goodbye to the lives we’ve lived, onscreen or off?
