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Chinese TV sci-fi drama proving popular overseas

The Chinese TV series adaptation of Liu Cixin’s Three-Body Problem, the first Asian novel to win the Hugo Award, has gained popularity overseas, according to reports from Beijing.

Statistics show that the series has gained a rating of 7.9 out of 10 on the foreign review aggregator IMDb and has accumulated 5 million views on YouTube, the China Daily reports.

Gao Changli, Director-General of the TV drama department at the National Radio and Television Administration, said the popularity of Three-Body and the success of the movie franchise The Wandering Earth might signal a new era for the rise of domestic sci-fi tales in the country.

Xia Xiaohui, the head of the TV drama department at China Media Group, said the drama had been in preparation and production for seven years and had done a good job of bringing to life the most iconic scenes depicted in the novel.

Director Yang Lei, who is also a diehard sci-fi fan, said he started reading The Three-Body Problem when the story was serialised in Science Fiction World magazine in 2006.

A sequel, Three-Body II: The Dark Forest, is currently in production.