Tang-era detective finds cases elementary

Another TV adaptation in 2004, Shentan Di Renjie (Super Detective Di Renjie), was a hit during the prelivestreaming era. This adaptation, consisting of four seasons, created the extremely popular duo of Di Renjie and his head guard Li Yuanfang, the Chinese counterparts of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson, and coined the buzz phrase "Yuanfang, what do you think?".

Apart from the TV series, Hong Kong director Hark Tsui made three blockbuster movies based on Di in the 2010s, starring famous actors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Chinese mainland, including Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Tony Leung, Wing Yeung, Li Bingbing and Ma Sichun.

The new adaptation recounts stories spanning Di's career in the different places he served as a county magistrate. The first season consists of nine cases, including The Chinese Gold Murders, The Lacquer Screen, and The Red Pavilion.

The adaptation does not strictly follow the original stories. Instead, scriptwriters have pieced stories from different books into a single case, says Jing Yu, chief scriptwriter of the drama.

In the new series, Di is presented as fearless and strong-minded, an idealist who is not afraid of power, ghosts or even fate, Jing says.

Another prominent change is the characterization of his wife, Cao An. In Van Gulik's books, Cao was not involved in solving the mysteries, but in the new drama her character is imbued with modern ideas like women's independence in finance and thinking, Jing says.