"My Sunshine" is one of the most successful online novel-turned-TV dramas of this year. (Photo : www.dramastyle.com)
This year, the number of online literature being adapted to television dramas continued to rise. This trend grows despite the difficulty of translating popular Internet novels into small screen series that would appeal well to Chinese audiences.
One of the successful works that fared well this year is the TV drama "My Sunshine," which was based from the Gu Man novel of the same title. The drama, which stars Wallace Chuang and Tang Yan, kicked off in January.
"My Sunshine" depicts the reunion of a man and a woman who were separated for seven years. Wallace Chuang became a romantic icon because of his brilliant portrayal in this adaptation.
Another winning adaptation, "The Journey of Flower" is a 54-episode series based on a Fresh Guoguo-penned novel of the same title. Starring Huo Jianhua and Zhao Liying, the summer hit of 2015 also became one of the most trending topics on social networking sites.
"The Journey of Flower" follows the story of an orphan who grew up becoming a goddess.
First released in June this year, action-adventure "The Last Tomb" also made it to 2015's list of successful TV adaptations. The online novel by Xu Lei, which was published in 2006, tells the adventures of five people in ancient tombs.
Both the online literary piece and its TV adaptation of "The Lost Tomb" received wide following.
An unexpected achiever for this year, "Nirvana in Fire" is based from an online novel of the same title written by Hai Yan. The drama, which stars Hu Ge and Liu Tao, presents the story of a military strategist whose goal is to clear his name.
"Nirvana in Fire" is considered a social media phenomenon after its fans generated 3.55 billion tweets on Weibo, praising its impeccable storyline.
Though a number of adaptations earned nod from viewers, there are also a few who received criticisms. These include "Yunge from the Desert," which was criticized for poor knowledge of history, and "Hua Xu Yin," which according to critics has unappealing lead roles and costumes.
"Yunge from the Desert" is based on a novel by Tong Hua. Starring Angelababy, the piece is about a love triangle of a girl, a nobleman and the emperor in Han (206 B.C. - A.D. 220).
Meanwhile, "Hua Xu Yin" tells the story of a princess who sacrificed for her country but was saved and later led another life with a different name. It stars Lin Yuan and Zheng Jiaying and is based on a Tang Qi novel.
