The cast of Sex And The City are worldwide stars

The show explores the dysfunctional romantic lives of four 20-something friends in the Chinese city.

Taiwanese actress Liu Rouyin plays Rene Lau, a woman obsessed with finding the right husband, while Chinese performer Zhang Yan plays ambitious Ru Nan.

Chen Hao plays Wan Ling, a classic Chinese beauty who frequently moves between relationships, while Xue Jianing is Ha Mei, a trendy but na�ve woman.

The show is based on a hit comic book in Taiwan, which has sold three million copies in China.

It first aired in Shanghai three weeks ago, and comes to screens in Beijing on Wednesday.

"Our production might bcome the Chinese version of Sex and the City," director Zhu Yi told the Shanghai Daily newspaper.

'Similar background'

"The two shows put the women into a similar background, focusing on their experiences and views about love and marriage.

"But I believe the four Chinese ladies in our production are more closely related to the home audicence."

Pirated video versions of Sex and the City are popular in China, sparking criticism that Hot Ladies is doomed to be an inferior version of the worldwide hit.

But producer Zhuan Liqi said audience response to the show had been good.

But Zhu Yi said that while Sex and the City took a "realistic approach", his show's stories were "adapted from a caricature book in a more dramatic way".

"The American production tells a relatively independent story in each episode, while our 40 episodes is just one complete story," he added.

Based on newspaper columns and a novel by New York-based writer Candace Bushnell, Sex and the City has been a worldwide hit since launching in the US in 1998.

The risqu� series has also made stars out of leading actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon.