Stars Of The Price Of Peace Look Back At James Lye’s Iconic Shirtless Scene & Are As Impressed As Ever

The Price Of Peace has definitely withstood the test of time, and for good reason. The 1997 drama was set in Japanese-occupied Singapore during World War II, and also featured historical figures such as war heroes Lim Bo Seng, Elizabeth Choy and Sybil Kathigasu as well as philanthropist Tan Kah Kee, as semi-fictional characters in the drama.

And in the latest episode of The Reunion, which brings together cast members from iconic Mediacorp dramas over the years, host Lee Teng was joined by a couple of The Price Of Peace cast members.

Christopher Lee, 51, who played Xie Guomin, Rayson Tan, 58, who played Lim Bo Seng, Lina Ng, 48, who played Zhang Cuicui, Hong Huifang, 62, who played Wang Jinfeng as well as final special guest Carole Lin, 49, who played Wang Qiumei, made up the cast for the first episode of the reunion special.

Rewatch the entire series on meWATCH here. The first episode is embedded as well. Our story continues below.

Rayson first spoke about his character, revealing that some 26 years after the drama aired, he still has the original pair of glasses he wore as Lim Bo Seng in the show.

But that’s not all. Since most of the cast were portraying characters caught up in the war, they had to look thinner, as food was scarce for most back then.

Rayson got the shortest end of the stick though, with the actor sharing that he lost a whopping seven kilograms in three weeks for his character. Though it was tough, he added that he didn’t mind at all.

“I love this drama. ‘Cos I portrayed a historical figure, a martyr, and it was pretty stressful for me,” he said, adding that he was worried that he wouldn’t do the war hero justice.

Thankfully, his efforts to portray his character well paid off, with Rayson sharing that Lim Bo Seng’s family told him that he “got [Bo Seng’s] demeanour right”.

Finally, there was one other actor whose scenes were discussed pretty extensively, and for good reason. Even though former actor James Lye, 53, wasn’t present for the reunion, his character, Chen Dacheng’s storyline with Lina’s Zhang Cuicui was featured prominently.

And we totally get why. After all, James did have a pretty iconic shirtless scene in the drama. The second the scene played, all the cast members present couldn’t help but to express their awe.

“The director spent a lot of time on this scene,” Rayson said half-jokingly, with Christopher adding that it only took one take.

“They filmed James in the river for a long time,” Christopher continued, before going on to tease that Lina must have conspired with the director to add the scene in. After all, Lina’s character did take James’ shirt from him to wash, resulting in even more shots of a shirtless James.

All teasing aside, the cast was also full of praise for James. Even though it was his first Chinese drama, James rose up to the task commendably, with Christopher, Rayson and Lina revealing that the actor’s command of Mandarin was really strong.

Watch Carole and Christopher’s hilarious reunion (and how they coincidentally ran into each other a week before) in the full episode below.