Netflix blockbuster 3 Body Problem divides opinion and sparks nationalist anger in China

Reactions have been mixed on Chinese social media since Thursday's premiere of the eight-episode English-language series 3 Body Problem, based on the Hugo Award-winning novel by Liu Cixin, the country's most famous science fiction author .

Netflix is ​​not available in China, but viewers can watch its content using virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass strict geographic restrictions or by consuming pirated versions.

Liu's novel, part of a trilogy, is one of the most successful Chinese cultural exports in recent years, boasting legions of fans around the world, including former US President Barack Obama.

Among the country's most patriotic netizens, discussions about the adaptation have turned political, with some accusing the big-budget American production of making China look bad.

The show opens with a poignant scene depicting Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, which consumed China in blood and chaos for a decade starting in 1966. On the campus of the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing, a professor of physique is brutally beaten to death on stage by his own means. students and denounced by his colleague and wife, while his daughter Ye Wenjie (played by Zine Tseng) watches in horror.

Such wrestling sessions were common during the decade-long period of upheaval, in which class enemies were publicly humiliated, beaten and tortured by Mao's frenzied Red Guards.

But some online commenters accused show producers of making a whole platter of ravioli just for a little vinegar sauce, a popular saying used to describe an ulterior motive in the matter, they argued, making all a TV series just to paint China in a bad light.

Netflix, you don't understand The Three Body Problem or Ye Wenjie at all! » read a comment on the social media platform Weibo. You only understand political correctness!

Others came to the show's defense, saying the scene closely followed the depictions in the book and was a truthful reenactment of the story.

The story is much more absurd than a TV series, but you pretend not to see it, read a comment on Douban, a popular movie, book and music review site.

Author Liu stated in a interview with the New York Times in 2019, he had initially wanted to open the book with scenes from Mao's Cultural Revolution, but his Chinese publisher feared they would never get past government censorship and buried them in the middle of the story.

The English version of the book, translated by Ken Liu, places the scenes at the beginning of the novel, with the author's blessing.

Ye Wenji's disillusionment with the Cultural Revolution later proves crucial to the plot of the sci-fi thriller, which oscillates between the past and the present.

3 Body Problem was adapted for Netflix by Game of Thrones co-creators David Benioff and DB Weiss, and American producer Alexander Woo.

Various other aspects of the series, from its casting and visual effects to sweeping changes to the story's setting and original characters, have also drawn the ire of Chinese social media users. Many compared it to a Chinese TV adaptation released last year, a much longer and tighter version of the book that ran to 30 episodes and was highly rated on Chinese review platforms.

The Netflix adaptation featured an international cast and set much of the action in present-day London, making the story much less Chinese.

Some Chinese viewers criticized the edit, saying it interprets a plot that glorifies the West for saving humanity from a disaster caused by China decades ago.

But not everyone has chosen sides.

Why do some people always need to make the enemy out of a cultural product? » said one user on Weibo. Our version may be good, theirs may also be excellent. Why do we always have to fight for this?