Emerald Hill parody by Mark Lee, Dennis Chew and Marcus Chin cracks up original actors

CNA

22-04-2025

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the DJs of Love 972's The Breakfast Quartet have just paid some side-splitting tributes to the Chinese drama Emerald Hill - The Little Nonya Story, which aired its last episode on Netflix on Apr 21.
The DJs – Mark Lee, Dennis Chew and Marcus Chin, minus Chen Biyu – donned sarong kebayas and makeup for a two-episode parody titled Pearl Hill on Instagram.
Lee played the protagonist Zhang Xinniang, while Chew assumed the villainous role of Zhang Anna and Xinniang's nemesis. Meanwhile, Chin slipped into beaded slippers for the matriarchal role of Liu Xiuniang.
Like the convoluted relations central to the Zhang family's drama, the parody's plot centred around betrayals, blackmail and shock betrothals that cleverly plugged their sister stations such as Yes 933 and Capital 958, and their respective DJs.
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A post shared by Mediacorp LOVE 972 (@love972fm)
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A post shared by Mediacorp LOVE 972 (@love972fm)
In the first episode posted on Apr 15, Lee's Xinniang was seen berating Chew's Anna for pursuing his heart's desire by guest-DJ-ing with Yes 933 on Apr 1, which was where Chew had his radio career start in real life.
'Don't forget, you now belong to 972!' lectured Lee, who also accused Chew of shamelessly crushing on Yes 933's DJ Zhong Kunhua.
Of course, you can't have drama without a good, ol-fashioned love triangle. In the second episode on Apr 21, Lee and Chew were pitted against each other over Zuye, the love interest of Xinniang and Anna in Emerald Hill – until Chin broke up the fight with some shocking news.
'I have settled your betrothals,' Chin proclaimed. Pointing at Chew, Chin announced he was to marry 958's Pan Jia Biao. 'And you, you will marry 958's Qiu Sheng Yang,' he said to Lee – at which point, the DJs broke character and guffawed.
The cross-dressing hosts also did not waste the opportunity to poke fun at each other. Lee marched into one episode and called Chew 'Ne Zha', the character in the hit Chinese animation, who is known for his double-bun hair style.
Chin's matriarch was also the butt of their jokes with Lee's and Chew's characters sucking up to their 'neo' with a hilarious rhyme that played on his 'perky posterior'.
Fans of Emerald Hill will also recognise the series' slow-motion opening sequence set to Kit Chan's Flowers Falling Like Rain. Except in the parody, the reverie is broken by Chin's sharp retort: 'Don't know how to close the door ah?'.
Emerald Hill's original actors such as Tasha Low, Chantalle Ng, Jesseca Liu, Romeo Tan and Zhang Zetong have reacted with laughing emojis.