The 1990s was the golden period of Hong Kong’s entertainment industry. Both the film and television industry and the recording industry were prosperous.

At the peak of star-chasing, there emerged the "Four Kings" who are still quite influential today - Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Lai Lai, and Aaron Kwok. They were recognized as the most popular male stars at that time.

However, surprisingly, not long after, a "Fifth Heavenly King" appeared in Hong Kong.

Wong Jing once said that when he was at his most popular, the limelight even surpassed Andy Lau.

He is Ekin Cheng.

Ekin Cheng once became famous all over the country with the movie "Young and Dangerous", but due to a love triangle, his career fell into the bottom and he was reputed as a betrayal.

Some people say that he did not remain popular because he was too lazy, while others said it was because he was too innocent.

So, 36 years after his debut, Ekin Cheng has not become popular. Is it fate or is there another "hidden reason"?

Ekin Cheng was born in Hong Kong in 1967.

Because of his handsome appearance since childhood, Ekin Cheng was discovered by talent scouts while still in middle school and filmed many advertisements, the most famous of which was the "Sunshine Lemon Tea" advertisement.

In 1986, Ekin Cheng gained the attention of the TV station by participating in the TVB Rookie Singing Competition, so he entered the martial arts artist training class.

However, Ekin Cheng was too shy and introverted at the time and was eliminated in less than 3 months.

The devastated Ekin Cheng had to find a clerical job to make ends meet. However, after a few months, he found that he still liked acting.

At that time, the wireless artist training class was recruiting students, so he signed up without hesitation and passed the exam.

After completing one year of study, he thought he could "make great achievements", but he did not expect to become the "King of Children".

After graduation, Ekin Cheng was transferred to TVB's children's program "430 Shuttle" as the host. Although this was just a transitional period in Ekin Cheng's life, he benefited a lot from it. Not only did he change his I lost my overly shy and reserved personality and developed my ability to react on the spot.

And he also found love. It is said that Ekin Cheng was dating Li Zhishan, the niece of gambling king Stanley Ho. The two were both hosts and they were in love for a long time, but they later broke up due to various reasons.

In addition to being the "King of Children", Ekin Cheng also dabbled in singing. Later, because of their close cooperation with singer Chen Songling, the two were selected as the golden boy and girl by Run Run Shaw.

But what Ekin Cheng wants most is acting. He has been waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity that allows him to counterattack.

Finally, the opportunity came.

However, faced with the opportunity that he had waited so hard for, Ekin Cheng hesitated.

The role that Ekin Cheng needs to challenge is not only a villain, but also a "gay", which is very different from his image of a sunny boy.

While he was hesitating, a man scolded him and woke him up.

He was the replacement for this role, Liu Qingyun, who was still playing a small role at the time.

Liu Qingyun said to Ekin Cheng: "If it works, it's up to you. If you don't, it's up to you. If you don't want to act, then let me act."

In the end, Ekin Cheng took on this role, not only successfully portraying the role of the classic villain Lu Depei in "Love", but also opening up new opportunities for his acting career.

With his handsome appearance and good acting skills, Ekin Cheng quickly found a place in TVB.

Just when his career was just getting started, he also ushered in love.

It can be said to be a double harvest in career and love.

In 1992, news of Ekin Cheng’s relationship with TVB’s leading actress Shao Meiqi spread like wildfire.

Although they are a combination of talent and beauty, the outside world is not optimistic about their relationship.

The first is the age gap, Shao Meiqi is 2 years older than Ekin Cheng, and the attitude towards sister-brother relationships at that time was far less tolerant than now;

The second is the gap between strong women and weak men, Shao Meiqi is already a TVB She is the leading actress, but Ekin Cheng is still just a newcomer, so this relationship is mostly negative.

However, the disapproval of the outside world did not affect the relationship between the two. Ekin Cheng even publicly said: his future wife must be Shao Meiqi.

What a touching sentence, maybe even Ekin Cheng himself didn’t know it. Years later, this sentence will look like a joke.

While Ekin Cheng was enjoying the nourishment of love, his career also welcomed a noble person.

This noble man is Wang Jing.

Under the recommendation of his father Wang Tianlin, Wang Jing discovered the plasticity of Zheng Ekin in fitness and believed that he would be very popular in the future and might surpass Andy Lau, so he signed a five-year contract with Ekin Zheng in one fell swoop.

After that, he collaborated in many movies, such as "Legend of Mermaid", "Super School Bully", etc., but Ekin Cheng did not become famous at that time.

What made Ekin Cheng really popular was thanks to the movie "Young and Dangerous" series. With his long flowing hair and chic yet loyal character, Ekin Cheng played the leading role in Causeway Bay, and he was played to perfection by Ekin Cheng.

To this day, some people will shout out the name "Chan Ho-nam" when seeing Ekin Cheng, which shows the influence of this movie.

However, in this movie that made Ekin Cheng famous, the male lead originally selected was not Ekin Cheng.

Chen Haonan was originally a role tailor-made for Andy Lau, but Andy considered that too many underworld roles would have a negative effect, so he could only decline the invitation to play the role.

Later, Liu Weiqiang contacted Eric Ho to play the role of Chen Haonan, but in the end he was unable to cooperate due to scheduling issues.

Finally, on the recommendation of Wang Jing, Liu Weiqiang extended an invitation to Ekin Cheng.

Unexpectedly, "Young and Dangerous" became a hit in major theaters as soon as it was released, and Ekin Cheng also became an instant hit and became the dream lover of many girls.

Wang Jing never expected that this artist, who he could never be popular with, would actually shine in a movie directed by someone else.

After that, Ekin Cheng really became as popular as Andy Lau, just as Wang Jing originally imagined.

Sure enough, Ekin Cheng became popular.

How popular was he at that time?

In 1998, Hong Kong movies were in a downturn. Only 6 films were made throughout the year, 3 of which starred Ekin Cheng.

"The Hero of the Storm" starring him and Aaron Kwok became the box office champion of the year.

In addition, there is another saying that the most expensive special effects in Hong Kong were given to Ekin Cheng.

At that time, special effects were not common in movies, and the production cycle and cost were slow and expensive.

Whether it is Nie Feng in "The Hero of the Storm" or the Chinese hero in "Heroes of China", the movies starring Ekin Cheng always have dazzling special effects scenes.

"The Legend of Shushan", in which Ekin Cheng plays the leading actor Xuantian Zong, is said to be almost the most expensive movie of that era.

How expensive is "The Legend of Shushan"?

At that time, director Tsui Hark hired 4 Hollywood stunt companies and more than 100 computers to produce images. It took more than a year, of which 40 million Hong Kong dollars were invested in 1,500 computer stunt shots, becoming a Chinese-language film. The highest investment in the film, the total investment in the film was as high as 80 million Hong Kong dollars, making it the most heavily invested Hong Kong film in 2000.

However, just as Ekin Cheng's career was booming, his relationship with Shao Meiqi turned red.

In the past few years when Ekin Cheng became famous, Shao Meiqi got liver disease due to her intense work at TVB and could only temporarily quit the entertainment industry and rest at home.

The former leading actress became a passerby that no one cares about. Ekin Cheng did not "fly away separately" when the disaster came, but made a promise to take care of Shao Meiqi for the rest of her life.

But at this time, in addition to liver disease, Shao Meiqi also suffered from severe emotional illness. Ni Zhen once said that Shao Meiqi was terribly neurotic, laughing wildly and scolding people for no reason.

As Shao Meiqi’s close lover, Ekin Cheng became the “first victim” during that period.

In this way, we reached the seventh year of love noisily. At this time, a woman appeared and broke the whole situation.

In 1999, Ekin Cheng and Gigi Leung met when they collaborated on the stage play "A Midsummer Night's Rhapsody".

Unexpectedly, the emotions in the play were extended to reality.

What really brought this relationship to the surface was when Gigi Leung celebrated Ekin Cheng's birthday at her home and was caught by reporters who came after hearing the news.

Subsequently, Ekin Cheng held a press conference and announced that he and Shao Meiqi had broken up three months ago.

However, this explanation obviously could not be recognized by the audience. For a while, Ekin Cheng and Gigi Leung became "heartless people" and "third parties".

At this point, the 7-year relationship between Ekin Cheng and Shao Meiqi ended, and "Two Qi's Face" has become a topic of conversation in the entertainment industry.

At the end of 1999, the relationship between Ekin Cheng and Gigi Leung was officially exposed. For a time, their careers fell to the bottom.

However, Gigi Leung has a nickname called "Victorious Gigi". Under her sweet appearance, she has a character of winning and refusing to admit defeat.

Gigi, who refused to admit defeat, became more and more courageous as she fought. Not only did she seize various performance opportunities, she also became the leader of a new generation of jade girls.

Compared to Gigi Leung, Ekin Cheng's character is more happy-go-lucky.

When he was not working, he would go diving and play games every day. He seemed to have great enthusiasm for everything. In his slow-paced days, he learned photography and traveled everywhere. .

"Play" has become a major theme in Ekin Cheng's life.

At this time, his relationship with Gigi Leung slowly turned from the initial sweetness to an undercurrent.

It is said that after Ekin Cheng broke up with Shao Meiqi, in order to make up for it, he left assets worth 250 million to Shao Meiqi, and also gave her monthly living expenses.

Although they have broken up, the 7 years they spent together were truly devoted. Perhaps, this was the last thing he could do for her.

However, this move angered Ekin Cheng's real girlfriend at the time, Gigi Leung.

However, what really brought this relationship to an end was Gigi Leung's wrong move.

Ekin Cheng is known as a big boy who is always playful, but Gigi Leung wants to complete her life plan of getting married and having children before the age of 30.

The two have always been controversial about whether to get married or not.

Until one year, Gigi Leung prepared a "wedding surprise" behind Ekin Cheng's back.

Unexpectedly, the surprise turned into shock, and Ekin Cheng became furious, which eventually led to the two breaking up.

So, in January 2006, after 7 years, the once sensational relationship came to an end again.

Neither of the two exes survived the seven-year itch, and the celibate Ekin Cheng was also labeled a "prodigal son".

In August of the same year, Ekin Cheng announced that he was officially dating actress Meng Jiahui.

This relationship is still not favored by the outside world.

However, this time Ekin Cheng has obviously kept a much lower profile, and his private life has become increasingly mysterious.

Seven years later, this time they did not break up, but received good news.

In January 2013, Ekin Cheng and Meng Jiahui, who had been in love for 7 years, finally got married.

As soon as the news came out, many people didn’t understand why Meng Jiahui successfully tamed the prodigal son. In fact, if you know them well, you will know that Meng Jiahui and Ekin Cheng are the same kind of people.

Meng Jiahui’s parents divorced when she was young, so she doesn’t think marriage is reliable.

Therefore, she never put pressure on Ekin Cheng to get married from beginning to end.

And Ekin Cheng loves to play, she loves to play more than Ekin Cheng, and loves freedom even more.

It was also a honeymoon. Other couples were cuddling together and enjoying the beautiful scenery, but they were playing games together on the plane, killing each other to the death.

Perhaps, this is the reason why Ekin Cheng finally chose her. What is more enviable than being like-minded?

After marriage, Ekin Cheng and Meng Jiahui lived a low-key married life.

Seven years have passed. After consultation with their parents, they decided not to have children, but this did not affect their relationship at all. Whether it was eating at a roadside stall or traveling abroad, they enjoyed it happily. A sweet world for two.

Some people were angry about Ekin Cheng's failure to become popular, but maybe this was Ekin Cheng's own choice.

In the 36 years he has been in the industry, he has had too many opportunities to become popular or even become popular, but he chose not to become popular.

Having experienced the highs and lows of life, Ekin Cheng is well aware of the impermanence of life, so in the limited time he can control, he chooses to experience different lives.

He likes diving, photography, traveling, and experiencing different new things. Perhaps such enjoyment will make people think that he is not enterprising, but who says that being a star must be popular?

Who stipulates that when you are a star, you cannot choose poetry and distance?