Meteor Garden

The story centers around a poor teenage girl, Dong Shān Cài (Barbie Shu), who at the insistence of her parents goes to a university for rich people. The university is dominated by Dào Míng Sì (Jerry Yan), Huā Zé Lèi (Vic Chou), Měi Zuò (Vanness Wu) and Xī Mén (Ken Chu)—four rich, handsome but arrogant students collectively known as the 'F4', short for 'Flower 4'. They are heirs to four rich and influential families in Taiwan. They terrorize the school by handing out red cards to those they do not like, which allows other students to bully the victims until they leave the school.

After one of Shān Cài's friends receives the wrath of the F4's leader, Dào Míng Sì, she stands up to and berates him, which in turn results in a red card of her own. Shān Cài hates the arrogant and rude Dào Míng Sì. Her persistence in standing up for what is right gradually gains the F4's respect and Dào Míng Sì starts to fall for her. Shān Cài is attracted to the silent Huā Zé Lèi in the beginning. But Dào Míng Sì's constant yet annoying efforts has her question her feelings for both Huā Zé Lèi and Dào Míng Sì.

Later in the series, Dào Míng Sì's mother comes to Taiwan. She instantly dislikes Shān Cài because of her poor background. Both Dào Míng Sì and Shān Cài face hurdles his mother throws their way to separate them. Though Shān Cài does not profess her love for him yet, Dào Míng Sì remains determined. The series show the journey of Dào Míng Sì and Shān Cài's feelings for one another.

Meteor Garden Original Soundtrack (流星花園 電視原聲帶) was released on 14 August 2001 by Various Artists under EMI. It contains thirteen songs, in which ten songs are English songs. The opening theme song is "Qing Fei De Yi" or "Can't Help Falling for You" by Harlem Yu, while the ending theme song is by Penny Dai entitled "你要的愛" or "The Love You Want".[1]

The track, "情非得已" (Cant Help Falling In Love With You) was listed at number 21 on Hit Fm Taiwan's Hit Fm Annual Top 100 Singles Chart (Hit-Fm年度百首單曲) for 2001.[2]

The series was first broadcast in Taiwan on free-to-air Chinese Television System (CTS) (華視) from 12 April to 16 August 2001. A supplementary mini-series, Meteor Rain was produced in April 2001 and the sequel Meteor Garden II was broadcast from 11 November to 25 December 2002. The first broadcast in Indonesia was on Indosiar and reran on Trans TV, Trans7, RTV and RCTI. Meteor Garden was hugely successful and set Asian drama phenomenon in the country at that time.[3]

The series was first shown in the Philippines on ABS-CBN on May 2003. The series was very popular in the country, leading to the main cast visiting the capital, Manila and staging a concert for ABS-CBN's 50th anniversary. At its peak of popularity, the series aired six times a week on primetime, with a weekend rewind airing during Saturday and Sunday mornings. A companion show following the cast's visit in Manila was also aired called Meteor Fever in Manila.[4] On 31 March 2014, Meteor Garden was shown again on ABS-CBN in a 16:9 scanned screen. The return of the series on ABS-CBN generated a huge buzz on the internet becoming a worldwide trending topic on Twitter and one of the most searched keywords in Google Philippines.[5][6][7]

• (in Chinese) CTS Meteor Garden official homepage
• Meteor Garden at IMDb