Guo Jingming, once cited as "the most successful Chinese writer" in an article by Aventurina King published in the New York Times, will now see his best-selling novel Tiny Times adapted into a TV series. Despite criticism about the adaptation, the crew has already begun shooting in Shanghai.

The copyrights for the adaptation were purchased for 10 million yuan ($1.58 million) from Guo. Taiwan native Chu Yu-ning is set to be the director of the TV series.

"We want to turn Tiny Times into a classic, and we hope fans trust our adaptation. There will be a handful of plays and films centered on Tiny Times in the upcoming three to five years," Liang Dong, producer of Tiny Times and CEO of FromMovie Co., told the Global Times.

Cast and controversy

Tiny Times 1.0, Guo's fifth full-length novel, is the first part of a trilogy. It was first published in Zuibook, a magazine founded by Guo.

 The story chronicles four women from university to post-graduation, touching upon friendships, love and career.

Liang said the progress so far has been successful. "We hired a third party to conduct surveys and interviewed fans of Tiny Times. We want to transplant the successful DNA model of the book to the TV series."

However, even before shooting, the chosen cast for the series ignited disputes and criticism among fans.

Baidu, for example, hosts a popular forum for Tiny Time fans; discussions  about the chosen cast is a trending topic. 

"I don't like some of the protagonists they picked. Gu Li, the female protagonist, played by Jiang Kaitong, is supposed to have short hair, but Jiang has a medium length hairstyle. But my disappointment will not affect my interest in the TV series," said Geng Ao, a Tiny Time fan from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province.

Chu Yu-ning, a director from Taiwan, previously worked on It Started with a Kiss and In Time with You, both milestones for TV dramas.

When asked about the criticisms fans have expressed, Liang defended Chu and the actors as the best choices for the series. 

Commenting on the adaptation of the plot, Liang said, "the story will be based upon the original novel but [additional] context will be included." 

"The TV series will follow a Hollywood structure. Every episode is independent but interconnected. There will be three seasons, like the novel. People born in the 1990s generation can find themselves in the characters on TV. The series itself is a symbol," Liang said.

Entrepreneurial roots

Guo Jingming gained fame for Ice Fantasy, a fantasy novel and Never Flowers in Never Dream, a love story published in 2003.

Guo is often compared to Han Han, the influential blogger and author born in the 1980s and Gao Xingjian, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for literature.

"Guo Jingming is a disputed person. I do not appreciate his early work. But it's hard to deny that he has successfully transformed from a writer to a businessman. He launched his own magazines and now participated in adaptation trend. All this indicates that he has a vision," Chen Xinyan, the supervisor of TV channels at Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and a television critic told the Global Times.

In Guo's early days, he was accused of plagiarism. There were allegations that Never Flowers in Never Dream had plagiarized Zhuang Yu's In and Out of the Circle.

Not only did he survive the accusation, but Guo then later expanded his title of writer to include president of Shanghai ZUI Company Limited.

Publishing his own magazines, Island and Zuibook, Guo is now regarded as the most influential writer among young adult readers under 20.

"In terms of literary skills, Guo is not very good. But he can understand a reader's psyche. He manages his business very well. This is a definition of success in some sense," said Chen.

Ba Qianru, who writes under the pen name Xue Qian, is an online novelist on jjwxc.net, a literature website. "Society needs talents who have diverse talents. It is important to write, but it's better if the writer is [well-rounded]. He should not forget his literature dream and [reason] for writing," Ba said.

Adaptation trends

"To convert pop fiction into films or TV is a Hollywood trend and minimizes risks," said Liang. "Having studied film and worked in the US, I feel confident about the model and will follow it."

Recent years have seen an increase in adaptations. Popular books, mostly online novels, have seen new life as TV series. Legend of Zhen Huan, Treading on Thin Ice, The Girl in Blue and Summer's Desire were all adapted from best-selling novels.

"The transformation from novel to TV series or films is inevitable. Chinese playwrights are exhausting their resources due to various limits. To adapt popular novels which already enjoy large readership will produce better results," said Chen.

Chen said that adaptations may generate criticism from faithful readers, but it is impossible to cater to each reader's ideal. The impact of the recognition outweighs potential problems.

 "Adapting popular novels to TV can broaden the current way of thinking. But some Chinese TV series do not have good production teams, which may ruin novels," Ba said.

According to Chen, Chinese TV series are developing at a slower pace, compared to South Korea. Good novels don't guarantee good adaptations, Chen warned.