BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The live-action television adaptation of the Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel "The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin has received critical acclaim following its release Sunday night.

Titled "Three-Body," the drama opened at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday on both CCTV-8, the TV drama channel of China's national broadcaster CCTV, and the online platform Tencent Video.

The show made immediate headlines on Chinese social media platforms. A hashtag that literally translates to "'Three-Body' TV drama wins by a lot" made it to Monday's list of top searches on Weibo -- generating 250 million reads as of 10 a.m.

Many web posts expressed viewers' satisfaction with the long-awaited show, at least based on the already aired episodes, commending its great job in restoring details of the original novel.

The "Three-Body" TV drama broke Tencent Video records in terms of the popularity generated by a drama on its debut day, according to the platform.

"The Three-Body Problem" is the first book of a sci-fi trilogy that revolves around physicist Ye Wenjie's contact with the Trisolaran civilization existing in a three-sun system, and the centuries-long clashes that follow between earthlings and the aliens.

Actors Zhang Luyi and Yu Hewei led the star-studded cast of the show.