My journey as Steven Ma fan Updated 2013 9/27:

Below is my 1st AF post on how I became a SM fan Self-intro AF 368 4/14/2007

I am a recent fan of Steven’s, well, since this summer. (Prior to that I had only watched these few tvb series:The Condor Heroes, The  Condor's Lovers, The Cadets (1), and Duke of Mt. Deer 1984 because I wasn't that fond of watching lengthy tv series to start with, plus tvb series were not readily available at where I lived.)  Last year, I happened to watch Healing Hands1 (friend's dvd) and, although his Dr. Joe left a deep impression on me at that time, it soon faded. Then this summer for want of something to do, I decided to download some TVB series to watch. Steven’s name was as good as any, so I browsed Youtube and found Better Halves. Just like that I became his fan. I turned to Tudou for more of his series. Since then, I have watched all his series made since 1998, while some series are better than others, I've enjoyed every one of his character portrayals. Of his series, Better Halves remains my favorite followed by "On the Track or Off",* "Where the Legend Begins" and "Safeguards". I’ve also enjoyed his latest "Steps" series. Of all his characters, appearance wise, Kangxi is the most memorable, but among my favorite characters, Quan Jia Fu & Gan Yuan are the most loved, Cao Zhi & Zhou Shi Xian are the most romantic while Shang Zhi is the most manly, and of course, Dr. Joe started it all. To my delight, Steven not only acts well, but also sings well, writes well and dances well too.

Since becoming his fan, I did some research on him. Discriminately separating the chaff from the grain, I read all reports on him with a grain of salt, but paid special attention to his tv and print interviews and excerpts of his published books. I like what I saw and heard. So when time permits, I will translate some good articles/reports on him so that his Chinese illiterate fans can also get a better sense of the man he is.

Addendum AF1054 Posted 04 March 2009 - 09:54 AM:
I keep switching between BH and OTOO as my most favorite Steven’s series, couldn't make up my mind, even now.

WTBL is not far behind, just that it's a tragedy loses points for me. Now that I think of it, that I remain his staunch fan is also in part due to his writings. His memoir and his candid sharing of his thoughts on his blogs touched me. I like listening to his live interviews too. But of course, I love watching his series best. All in all, I think Steven is a very gracious man - in his spoken and written words, in his expressions and actions; grace, which is greatly lacking in this world draws me to him.

---- eta 2013 additions: below are old comments reposted from AF----