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(CHINA DAILY) The year 2015 saw another boom in TV drama adaptations of online literature. Despite the difficulty of adapting original works, these popular novels on the Internet were screened one by one. Some enjoyed a great success while some were criticized by the audiences. Both the winners and losers tried to have artistic settings through projecting an aesthetic world and put an emphasis on charming appeal of both male and female protagonists. In others words, the lead roles in these adaptations often have a "high face value", which has become an important selling point to attract more audiences.
My Sunshine
My Sunshineis a TV drama adapted from Gu Man's novel of the same title. Its film version is called Silent Separation. It stars Wallace Chuang and Tang Yan, premiering in January, 2015. The drama depicts a man and a woman's reunion and long-lasting romance after seven years of separation. The novel itself has been popular on the Internet from 2003 and was published in 2005. Wallace Chuang soon rose to become a romantic icon among female viewers because of the role he played in the adaptation, presenting an ideal image of lover to the audiences. The film adaption was launched in April 2015.
The Journey of Flower
The 54-episode series The Journey of Flower was one of the hottest topics on social media. The TV drama became a hit in the summer of 2015, generating around 200 million yuan ($31 million) in revenue for its producer. The movie starring Huo Jianhua and Zhao Liying is based on a novel of the same title written by Fresh Guoguo whose real name is Jiang Chenzhou. The aesthetical adaptation has picturesque outdoor scene in a Chinese ink painting style and charming male and female lead roles, attracting 400,000 followers on the drama's official Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter. The drama premiered in June of 2015. It tells a story from a female perspective of an orphan's growth and romance on her way to becoming a goddess.
The Lost Tomb
The Lost Tomb is an action and adventure TV adaption of a popular online novel by Xu Lei. This is the first seasonal online TV series in China and the novel is scheduled to be dramatized in eight seasons, one season for each year. The first season was released in June of 2015. The novel series of the same name is about five people's adventure in ancient tombs, and it enjoyed a wide readership since it was released online in 2006. Thus the adapted TV series had been accordingly highly expected by its fans but turned out to be disappointing. Although there were 24,000,000 hits on the web within the first two minutes of its debut, the season was later criticized by the audiences for its weak storyline and poor quality. Some lines of the series even became jokes on the social media.
Nirvana in Fire
Nirvana in Fire unexpectedly achieved a tremendous success, rising like a star among the TV dramas in the fall of 2015. Also adapted from an online novel of the same name written by Hai Yan, the adaptation for the first time found its way on the screen in September 2015. Staring Hu Ge, Liu Tao and other five actors, the series shows a talented military strategist endeavoring to clear his name through continuous fights. The fictional characters and dynasty let the adaptation smartly avoid being criticized for not sticking to historical accuracy. And the drama's delicate internal settings and impeccable storyline were highly praised by the audiences, generating 3.55 billion tweets on Weibo.
Yunge from the Desert
Yunge from the Desert is based on an online novel with the same title by Tong Hua. It is about love triangle of a girl named Yunge, a nobleman, and the emperor in the Han (206BC-220AD). Nearly premiering in the same month as Nirvana in Fire, Yunge was much outflanked by the latter. It was criticized for its poor knowledge of history. For example, a lead role held a fan with a famous painting that was painted much later than the time set in the adaption; Yunge, played by Angela Baby, used a stainless steel knife that did not appear in the Han Dynasty. To some audiences, charming Angela Baby herself became the only appeal of the adaptation.
Hua Xu Yin
Hua Xu Yin is about a princess who sacrificed her life for the country but later was saved and began her own adventures with another name. It is also a TV series adaptation of an online novel of the same title written by Tang Qi. The series premiered in July 2015, staring Lin Yuan and Zheng Jiaying. However, it did not get as much attention as its rivals. According to the online critics, the lead roles and their costumes were not appealing enough in the adaptation.
