This is the Chinese version of the TV series. It has 30 episodes compared to Netflix’s version, which had only eight. According to the comment section this version is infinitely better as it is faithful to the original material. I would agree. If you are a fan of hard science fiction and don’t mind subtitles, this is for you.
I don’t know that I’m going to watch this… I don’t think I have the stamina! But I might give it a try at some point. I assume this is based on “Three Body Problem” by Liu Cixin.
A couple of years ago, I was reading that (in translation!) and was about two thirds of the way through, but life intervened and I literally “lost the plot” and never got back to it.
Mark
Cool!!! Thanks, the books are terrific, but the US TV series was awful and a big disappointment. I can’t wait to check this one out.
Thanks, I will definitely watch. I love Chinese productions!
Yes, it is “Three Body Problem” by Liu Cixin.
I saw a few episodes of it and would have to agree. The only positive was that they had decent special effects.
So do I. I first got really into Chinese cinema when I read the NYT review for Hero in which they told how the cinematogrpher filmed each separate scene with a different color motif. I was intrigued and went to see and was captivated. One of the most visually aesthetic films ever made.
Not all Chinese stuff is great but a lot of it is.
I will post another series that I am watching later.
30 episodes sounds incredible compared to Netflix’s rushed version. Hard sci-fi needs that kind of room to breathe to get the concepts right. Thanks for the heads-up, definitely adding this to the watchlist!
The English translation of the book is his original order of the events, but the Chinese version, from which this TV series is based on, has some of the chapters regarding the Cultural revolution and the Red Guards murdering Ye Wenjie father inserted deeper in the book on the advice of his editors to avoid excessive government scrutiny and censorship. In the Netflix version he is shown to be murdered in the first episode. In the Chinese version you don’t see the killing or the “struggle session” but you know it happened. But neither version exactly tells us why he was killed or what he did wrong. But from the history of the cultural revolution any flimsy or made up reason was enough to get you denounced, even by your own family, and get you killed. It was organised insanity.
I’ll have to try again… I don’t remember Ye Wenjie’s father’s story.
I was studying Chinese when the Cultural Revolution happened. That year, my college had given me a travelling scholarship to go to China for a couple of months during the summer holiday. I was waiting for my visa when it started and all visas were cancelled. I think I was lucky… if it had started a month later I would have been in China, and so might well not be around to write this! But, inevitably, we followed what was happening as best we could.
I didn’t make it to China until 1995.
Mark
That was a close shave. If you had been in China you could have dissapeared like the 3M others who did.
Speaking of close shaves my wife took this bus every morning. But on the day of the bombing she decided to walk a few blocks and take a different one. Otherwise we wouldn’t be married. 
There are numerous things wrong with the Netflix version aside from the compression. The comments section on YT says it all.
I am more concerned with the future than the past.
China’s social climate has improved significantly, and the CCP has relaxed its control over public opinion over the past two years—which is a good thing.
However, the situation for middle and high school students continues to deteriorate. Leaving aside the grueling school days that stretch from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., schools are increasingly adept at employing tactics reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution—such as forcing students to engage in public self-humiliation. In one instance, a high school student in Huairen, Shandong, was made to publicly confess and print a thousand copies of a written apology for the entire student body to read, simply because he had used the restroom at night without notifying a teacher.
There are many such incidents; students enjoy none of the conveniences of modern China and seem to be living in that bygone era—albeit without the threat of death. While they can escape this environment after graduation, the situation remains a genuine problem.
The novel I am currently writing explores how students can save themselves, given the premise that this environment is unlikely to change.
Yeah, that tracks. The Netflix version felt like it was sprinting through the story. If the Chinese series sticks closer to the books, I’m definitely giving it a watch.