A thriller set in 1940s China, based on a novel written by the author Mai Jia, is set to be serialized on the small screen.

Postproduction of The Message is nearly completed and it will be released in 2019, it was announced at a seminar of the China Television Artists Association on Saturday.

The Message is the first project being entirely produced by Shanghai-based Tencent Penguin Pictures, an affiliate of Chinese tech company, Tencent Holdings Ltd, and will premiere on v.qq.com, the company's streaming platform.

The original novel was first released in 2007 as a series in the magazine People's Literature but gained a wider audience when, in 2009, the book was adapted into a film with an all-star cast, which included Li Bingbing, Zhou Xun and Zhang Hanyu. A TV adaptation followed in 2011.

Focusing on a hidden battlefield of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), the story sees intelligence operatives from Japan and its puppet-government in China hunt for a Communist secret agent, code-named Lao Gui ("old ghost"). As the plot unfolds, the undercover heroes have to skillfully evade the search and attempt to keep their communication network safe.

The new 38-episode production is expected to have fresh approach to the story.

"I was a little worried when I first took the project since everyone who watched the previous film knows who Lao Gui is," Li Yunliang, director of the new series, says. "There aren't more secrets, and we had to add something new."

As such, he has implemented a leaner approach that he refers to as a "zero wasting scenario". In this new production there are only seven main roles across the whole series - two interrogators and five suspects - and most subsidiary plots were cut. Other than some flashbacks, all the scenes happen on a ship and in a villa.

"Many domestic thrillers get too diluted by lots of romance or action scenes," Li explains. "We want to stick to the main story from the beginning to the end."

The 2009 film has many torture scenes. They were even played up in the 2011's TV version. In the upcoming version, however, such scenes are to be largely deleted. Li's team want to depict a purely "psychological war".

Will the new format be well received by TV audiences?

Some parts of the new production have been released to critics and their opinions are divided.

Zhao Tong, a researcher with the China Television Artists Association, thinks the new production will lead a new trend in Chinese spy-themed TV series as it resembles the atmosphere of a locked room, which reminds people of British author Agatha Christie's works and the Japanese cinematic classic Rashomon.

Chinese spy-themed TV series setting their stories in the past have gradually grown in popularity since 2004, after the country's media authorities set a limit to control the number of TV series about contemporary criminal investigation.

Lurk (2009), also about the war of resistance, is so far the best acclaimed production in the genre, gaining 9.2 points on entertainment review website Douban.

"A new generations of viewers will also see the stories as a reflection of their office life and an issue of 'conflicting identities' in a society where people migrate for jobs," Zhao says while explaining the reason for the popularity of such shows.

He says The Message, with its new elements, will trigger wider discussions on human nature after being released next year.

However, Qin Zhengui, deputy supervisor of the TV series channel of China Central Television, says: "When a rubber band is stretched too far, it will surely break. It's still uncertain whether our audiences are ready to accept such a tense rhythm without getting tired."

But Li Zhun, the honorary president of the China Literature and Art Critics Association, says he worries that the overwhelming emphasis of a cat-and-mouse game and psychologically thrilling atmosphere will dilute the historical background needed for the young generation.

In the story, special agents from the Communist Party, the Kuomintang, Japan and Japan's puppet-government, all get mixed up in the battle.

"Young people need to have the right understanding of the heroes' sacrifice for a nation's liberation and revolution," Li Zhun says.

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