[Oriental Daily]

Recently TVB's prime time ratings have been rather low, with an average of just 25 points and with the forthcoming Anniversary month, TVB wants the ratings to look good and not afraid of the 'Ding Hai' effect, they are airing Adam Cheng's series "Fei Sheung Ngoi Fu" (Unusual Father In Law). With stock market crashes in the past taking place in October, even Adam himself has been urging stockholders to let go and be careful over this time.

TVB had originally planed to air "Fei Sheung Ngoi Fu" after "Ying Hung Do Siu Nin" (Find the Light), starting next Monday, but afraid of the 'Ding Hai Effect' (Curse on the Stockmarkets) they had decided to change the airing to Deric Wan and Sonija Kwok's "Ngau Long Jik Nui" (The Legend of Love). However, they finally reverted back to their original decision, giving up the stock market for the sake of ratings.

Looking back at the archives, in 1991 after "Dai See Doi" (The Greed of Man) was aired, no matter whether it was the first time airing or a repeat, the stock market would fall whenever Adam Chen was on the screen. Because Adam's character in "Dai See Doi" - Ding Hai made money when the stock market crashed, this was nicknamed the "Ding Hai effect".

Currently filming in China for a series, Adam Chen indicated that he was confident of ratings for "Fei" because there is singing and dancing in this show and he believes the audience will like this. However he and Cecilia Yip are not in Hong Kong so they will not be able to take part in the promotional events.

As to whether the "Ding Hai Effect" will appear again, Adam says: "I don't know. TVB executives and financial analysts have all verified this phenomena, so you have to believe it. Let's see if it comes true again this time, you can dispute it if it doesn't. I would let go of my stock and I think others should do the same. However I only buy blue chip stocks so it's not too scary."

Although the stockbrokers do not like the "Ding Hai Effect", Adam himself does not mind this and laughs that they should not disprove this rule: "If there was not this effect, what would there be to talk aboutin the future?" Adam is certainly the evergreen of the TV station, even thinking about promotional tactics.

However one point worth noting is that whether it is down to coincidence or arrangement, but Adam's character in "Fei" is Ding Gwai Mui - another surname Ding. Lau Siu Ming's character is named Ding Ha (Prawn Ding) along the same lines as Ding Hai (Crab Ding), will this have the same omen?

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a51cnt.html