New stars

Web novels are a hit among movie and TV producers in China due to their low adaptation costs, Xu Fan reports.

Tong Hua, a Shaanxi native, wrote a novel to get over her boredom after quitting her job as a financial analyst in 2005. When she uploaded the first few chapters of her book back then, it became a hit online, turning Tong into a celebrity author.

The book, Bu Bu Jing Xin, or Scarlet Heart, was printed in 2005, and it made a media splash as a best-selling novel that year. It has a Mary Sue-like character who "travels back" to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and, among other adventures, gets involved in a love triangle with two princes.