Honing the art of adaptation

Seeing the rapid growth of China's online entertainment industry, Alibaba recently launched a series of projects to expand its foray into the "pan-entertainment" sector, which seeks to link literature, movies, TV series and sports, during the Shanghai International Film and TV Festival's Internet Summit, which took place between June 15 and 18.

Among all the categories which have the potential to really take off, literature has the most enduring charm, says Yu Qian, chief executive officer of Alibaba Literature.

"Literature is not only the source for movies and TV shows, but also the touchstone to pre-build a fan base," he explains.

Citing such cases like The First Half of My Life and In the Name of People, two hit TV series adapted from best-selling novels, Yu says that works of literature have become a pivotal source for movies and TV shows in recent years, exemplified by the fact that's where six out of the 10 highest-rated TV dramas in 2017 were adapted from.