MAGNUM, P.I.: CHINA DOLL (TV)

Summary

One in this detective series set in Hawaii, starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a former naval officer turned private investigator.

In this episode, Magnum goes to Kauai to visit Mai Ling, a beautiful Chinese antiques dealer he has fallen for and has visited every Saturday for a month. On this occasion Mai Ling says she would like to hire him to protect her for the next two days while she delivers an extremely valuable Sung vase to a buyer in Oahu. Magnum takes Mai Ling to the Masters estate, and when Higgins expresses his interest in seeing such a rare piece, Mai Ling rather defensively insists that it cannot be uncrated as its packaging is sealed.The vase is placed in the Masters' safe.

Matters soon heat up when a ruthless Tong warrior, a man capable of killing with one swift blow, injures T.C. after trying to pump him for information about the whereabouts of Magnum and Mai Ling. Magnum is torn between his feelings for Mai Ling and his sense that she is not telling him the whole story about the vase. With the Tong warrior hot on their trail, Mai Ling finally tells Magnum the truth: the vase is no mere antique, but the "Soul of Sung," containing the ashes of the last Sung emperor.

Her family has been protecting this symbol for generations -- many at the cost of their lives -- which she says the communists and the nationalists would give anything to get their hands on. Mai Ling says she would die to protect the vase and the honor of her family. When Mai Ling is kidnapped by the warrior in exchange for the vase, Magnum races to save her from such a fate. Commercials deleted. Cataloging of this program has been made possible by Verizon Communications.

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: December 18, 1980 9:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:49:50
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: T:11180
• GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective; Asian American Pacific Islanders Collection
• SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1980-1988
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Donald P. Bellisario … Executive Producer, Director, Created by, Writer
• J. Rickley Dumm … Producer
• Gilbert Shilton … Associate Producer
• Glen A. Larson … Created by
• Ian Freebairn-Smith … Music by
• Tom Selleck … Cast, Thomas Sullivan Magnum
• John Hillerman … Cast, Jonathan Quayle Higgins III
• Roger E. Mosley … Cast, T.C. (Theodore Calvin)
• Larry Manetti … Cast, Orville "Rick" Wright
• Suesie Elena … Cast, Mai Ling
• Lee DeBroux … Cast, Duffy
• George Kee Cheung … Cast, Choi
• Yankee Chang … Cast, Han Ling
• Lee Woodd … Cast, Koko
• Lee Gaber … Cast, Tourist Husband
• Marvin Wong … Cast, Ho Ling
• Alice Lemon … Cast, Tourist Wife
• Roland Nip … Cast, Pin Ling
• Remi Abellira … Cast, Moki