PUBLISHED ONMay 12, 2023 9:30 AMByDrima ChakrabortyAll good things must come to an end, but sometimes it comes too soon.
After three seasons, TV series Kung Fu starring Singapore actress Tan Kheng Hua has been cancelled by The CW, and the 60-year-old penned her heartfelt appreciation for her co-stars in an Instagram post today (May 12).
"Kung Fu was so much more than a television show to me. It wasn't three seasons, it was three life-changing years," she said.
She added that the show came into her life when her "personal life was taking a big swing into the unknown", possibly referring to her move from Singapore to North America.
"You'd think having a whole new job, being in a whole new country, with a whole new team you don't know at all would make things worse but this job did the complete opposite," she wrote.
"It brought me a whole new family when I had to leave mine behind."
Kheng Hua plays Mei-Li Shen in Kung Fu, a Chinese-American mother of three who operates a restaurant with her husband Jin (Tzi Ma). Their second daughter Nicky (Olivia Liang) drops out of Harvard and leaves the family behind for three years after they sent her on a matchmaking trip to China, living in a monastery to learn martial arts instead.
On Nicky's return, she uses her fighting prowess to act as a vigilante and defend her community against rising crime. Mei-Li tells Nicky that they are the descendants of a historical hero, Liang Daiyu, who wielded an enchanted sword and single-handedly defended her village from raiders in the Tang dynasty.
News of the cancellation came hours after Kheng Hua shared her birthday wishes on her Instagram Story for onscreen daughter Olivia.
In an article published in 2020, Kheng Hua said it was hard to be away from her mother, who was 84 then. Her actress daughter Lim Shi-An is also in Singapore.
The show gave her time to "fall deeply in love with new people" — her colleagues she deemed "so quirky, so unusual, so themselves and so, so loveable" — when she thought that her heart "had reached its limit to love".
When Kheng Hua was "far away from home," she added, they made her feel "loved, liked, appreciated and supported".
"And they listened. When I had a struggle, they'd come, and I'd ask for each of their thoughts, and they'd give it to me, clearly, kindly," she added.
Kheng Hua wrote to her "Kung Fu fam": "Know that I would climb into any dark cave with you until you're ready to come out, I would float with you on a raft till we see land, cuddle you when you're chilly, tell you a silly story when things get too serious, and feed you lots and lots of food and clean up after you, 'cause that is what Mamas do."
She also vowed to continue being their "Mama Kheng" no matter where she was or what she was doing, and to keep close to them.
Fellow actresses Fiona Xie, Sora Ma and Janice Koh showered Kheng Hua with heart emojis in the comments.
Matteo Di Iorio, a camera crew member, commented: "It's going to be hard to top this cast and crew, every day was awesome!"
Fans also lamented the loss of a show they loved.
"My brother and I watch it together! Gonna miss seeing the whole Kung Fu family together on screen," one comment read.
Another read: "You're Mama Kheng to us all. Will miss you terribly! Thank you for sharing your immense passion and talent."
drimac@asiaone.com
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly wrote that Kheng Hua was "devastated" by the cancellation of the series and attributed an Instagram Story (IGS) containing the quote to her.
The IGS was in fact written by a fan and reshared by Kheng Hua. The article has been edited to reflect this.
No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.
For more original AsiaOne articles, visit here.
