Hit Chinese novel as online series

Stars promote the upcoming series Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Upcoming Chinese series Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy, adapted from the hit novel of the same name, will run on the streaming sites Youku, iQiyi and Tencent from Tuesday.

In Jin Hezai's book, the story chronicles the rise of three young men — a prince, a warlord's heir and a tribal chief — in a turbulent place, where people and special creatures coexist.

The series, with a budget of up to 300 million yuan ($45.2 million), used a crew of 1,000 members, and tailored 10,500 costumes and made 36,000 props.

To re-create the spectacles depicted in the novel, the crew toured the areas around Turpan Basin and Sayram Lake in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Pop idols Huang Xuan, Shawn Dou and Zhou Yiwei play the protagonists.

Director Cao Dun, who shot to fame for his 2011 TV series Naked Wedding, promised the series would be epic.

Cast members of the forthcoming series Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy, which will run on several video-streaming sites on Nov 21. [Photo provided to China Daily]