There in lies one of the glaring omissions from the film and part of what keeps it from being a great movie. At least there was context to "Johnny" in the original. I was surprised that the writers didn't go with the most logical explanation of why the bully boy in this film objects to Dre chatting up the girl. In a country where the majority of marriages are still arranged, it would make sense to have Cheng and Meiying be intended for each other, at least in the eyes of their parents who are described as being very close. This would explain why Chen was possessive about Meiying and seemed to lurk in the shadows wherever she was. Whether he had any feelings for her would be irrelevant. Unfortunately, the writers really gummed things up as they described the parents of Meiying and Cheng as being close, but then we have Meiying's father and mother cheering on Dre at the competition, which made zero sense. I loved the remake but wish it was better written.