Qi Ren An Shi Min 奇人安世敏

Description:

An Shi-Min was a down-and-out commoner intellectual from the lower rungs of society at the end of the Qing dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China. His story circulated widely among the common folk of Chongqing and throughout the Yangtze River basin — one might say it was known to every household and enjoyed considerable fame. This quick-witted figure of folk legend earned both the reputation of an "embodiment of wisdom" and the notoriety of a "king of pranks"; he possessed the fine qualities of uprightness, honesty, wit, and humor, as well as the human weaknesses of restlessness, vengefulness, and a love of teasing others. His character combined talent, cleverness, boldness, and roguishness all in one — truly making him someone people loved and hated at once. Pranks seemed to be An Shi-Min's greatest passion, a necessity of his life, and he was never selective about his targets — whether officials and local tyrants, villains and evildoers, or relatives and friends, neighbors, maternal uncles, cousins, even his own father or father-in-law... Anyone or anything that displeased him, he would not rest until he had played a prank on them.
The TV series "The Eccentric An Shi-Min" depicts a brilliant "prank dossier" of An Shi-Min: a dignified provincial examination commissioner, because of exam fraud, is pranked by An Shi-Min — who risks his own career prospects — until he loses his post; Yu Zhu-Xuan impersonates a "miracle doctor" to swindle people, and An Shi-Min exposes him to public humiliation; Ding Yao-Zu, in order to embezzle valuable cargo, sinks a ship and reports it as a loss, causing several deaths, and An Shi-Min, undaunted by being twice wrongly imprisoned, pranks him until he ends up behind bars; the county magistrate Xia Gong-Tong, who was once An Shi-Min's fellow student and friend, merely for trying to dally with another man's wife, is pranked by An Shi-Min until he hides in a cabinet, utterly ashamed and unable to speak of it; the Paoge boss Xu Qing-Yun, who schemes to forcibly take a young actress, is given a packet of croton powder by An Shi-Min, pranking him until he cannot even make it to the latrine in time; two gossipy women who love to stir up trouble are pranked by An Shi-Min until they are charged with false accusation and made to slap each other in open court; the foreign devil Henry, who seizes and demands others' treasures by force, is pranked by An Shi-Min until he trades a real treasure for a fake one and is made to present it publicly! "The Eccentric An Shi-Min" is a witty and humorous light comedy. With tight pacing, humor and exaggeration, vivid and well-rounded characters, and a rich comedic flavor, it uses laughter to lash out at villainy and evildoing and to give vent to the frustrations of ordinary people — possessing high aesthetic value.