Sci-fi series “3 Body Problem” hit #1 on Netflix’s global English-language top 10 this week (25-31 March), with 115.6 million hours viewed (15.6 million views) and a place on the top 10 in 93 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Germany, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The win follows days of high-anxiety in mainland China, including the accusation that the adaptation is a deliberate subversion of a famous Chinese story into Western-centric simplistic good-versus-evil entertainment, and “reveals the decline of American cultural hegemony”.

The English-language adaptation of Chinese writer Liu Cixin’s novel was co-created, written and executive produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (“Game of Thrones”) and Alexander Woo (“True Blood”).

The eight-episode series is about a close-knit group of brilliant scientists who join forces with an unorthodox detective after the laws of nature inexplicably unravel before their eyes. Together they confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history.

“3 Body Problem” premiered on Netflix on 21 March, immediately hitting #2 on the global English TV top 10 for the week of 18-24 March, with a top 10 spot in 93 countries including the U.S., U.K., Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In its first week on the top 10, the English-language adaptation of “3 Body Problem” was watched for 81.7 million hours (11 million views) around the world, behind “The Gentlemen”, which had been on the English-language top 10 for three weeks, but ahead of “Homicide: New York”, with 29.7 million hours viewed (6.6 million views) in its first week on the list.

In China, where Netflix’s streaming platform is not available, criticism included an over-focus on diversity and inclusion, political correctness, and identity politics with too little regard for the original work and a failure to respect the original work’s thinking.

An opinion piece from the China Military Network site said the Netflix series had “roughly transformed the novel's profound thinking into a simple and cliched visual spectacle of ‘good guys beating bad guys’.” (Translated from the original Chinese).

The article also said the U.S. drive for diversity and inclusion had eliminated Chinese heroes as well as anti-American characters.

At the same time, the piece accused the TV series’ creators of “deliberately [retaining] the yellow appearance of the villains”.

“To put it bluntly, this trick only has the appearance of ‘diversity’, but does not have the spirit of diversity at all. What is hidden is only the cultural hegemony of ‘monism’ aesthetics,” the column said.