Netflix's '3 Body Problem' gets mixed reviews from Chinese sci-fi fans

BEIJING, China — Netflix's blockbuster "3 Body Problem," an adaptation of the crown jewel of Chinese sci-fi, has sparked passionate debate and divided opinions among fans in the country despite it not being available to watch there.

The streaming service isn't officially operational in China, but that hasn't stopped devotees accessing the show, likely via VPN services or illegal streaming sites.

Hashtags relating to the show have over two billion views on the X-like social media platform Weibo.

Among the tens of thousands of commentaries left on a reviewing platform, reactions ranged from disappointment at plot and character changes, to nationalistic outrage, to optimism the show's profile would boost representation of Chinese literature and film.

The series is based on the three-part "Remembrance of Earth's Past" by Liu Cixin, a domestic superstar who readers sometimes jokingly call "God," and his trilogy "the bible of Chinese sci-fi."

"The original works have a huge influence. Many fans of the books know all the details of the characters in the books by heart, so they have a hard time accepting changes," Li Dongdong, founder of Chinese sci-fi film community Geek Movie, told AFP.

Previous Chinese-produced adaptations have taken this obsessive attention to detail into account — Liu told a conference recently he had suggested making a small visual change to a recurring plot device , only to be told: "You can't change it beyond recognition!"

For many, the Netflix adaptation has very much done that.

Spearheaded by the team behind megahit series "Game of Thrones," it transfers most of the action to the United Kingdom and changes the nationalities and genders of some of the key characters.

One Chinese reviewer likened the series to "a plate of General Tso's chicken," a WesterniZed Chinese dish that can be used as a metaphor for inauthenticity and cultural misunderstanding.

Disagreement with the showrunners' creative choices is not confined to China.

The series was the most watched on Netflix by its second week, but reviews have been mixed, with Rolling Stone calling it "one great big miss."

Some of the Chinese criticism though is tinged by politics, against a