Promotional material of Love Like the Galaxy Photo: Douban

 New period romance series Love Like the Galaxy, adapted from a popular web novel, debuted on Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video on Tuesday to positive reviews from audiences. The show focuses on traditional Chinese family relationships and the culture of prose poetry.

The series starring actor Wu Lei and actress Zhao Lusi focuses on the daughter of a military general, her growth and the romantic love between her and the adopted son of the emperor.

Cheng Shaoshang (Zhao) has been left in the care of her grandmother by her parents due to a war and her evil aunt wants to raise her as a good-for-nothing. Facing many pitfalls, Cheng has her own ambitions as she waits for her parents' return. However, when the day finally arrives, she discovers it is difficult to reestablish old emotional connections after years of estrangement.

After meeting the new emperor's adopted son Ling Buyi (Wu), Cheng experiences many ups and downs. These experiences help both Ling and Cheng grow and they slowly reconcile with each other and their families, all the while holding onto a sense of justice as they work together to resolve a national crisis.

The series depicts family and romantic relations from a broad perspective, but presents multiple emotional elements such as family affection and love in fine detail. In the end, it presents diverse views on family and love to audiences.

Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, commented that the series is about young people's growth. And although their stories are set in ancient times, people today also face similar problems, so the series is able to strike a chord with them.

The opening of the series has also been hailed by many netizens for its use of traditional Chinese shadow puppetry.

The first four episodes were released on Tuesday night. Reviewers commented that two main characters feel like they walked out from the original novel and feel like a real young couple.