BBC's "Sherlock," which is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes," is hugely popular across the world, including China. Now, we have Sherlock and Dr John Watson as gay icons in Chinese fan fiction stories.

Foreign Policy reports that Benedict Cumberbatch, 37, is called "Curly Fu" by his Chinese fans and that they love him. For the Chinese audience, "Sherlock" was aired on the video streaming site, Sohu TV, in March 2011 and Foreign Policy says that it has received more than 24 million views since then.

The popularity of Sherlock, its characters and actor Benedict Cumberbatch has inspired online gay erotica. According to Foreign Policy, there is a "new wave of gay romance literature on the Chinese Internet."

Some of the lines from the "Sherlock" inspired gay erotica as quoted by Foreign Policy:

"... sexual desire coursed through Sherlock's chest as his heart beat wildly." According to Foreign Policy in another story, Sherlock believes that Watson has become a porn-star to pay off his student loans taken for medical studies. Watson says: "You've only known me for five minutes" and Sherlock replies: "That's long enough for me to come to a conclusion."

In these Chinese fan fictions, Cumberbatch and Watson are not only best friends but lovers, too. In addition to solving mysterious, they are having a romp in the bed. "Sherlock's tongue was like an all-powerful key," Watson says in one of the fan fictions, adding "Unlocking all the doors of my heart."

The story "He Is My Bitch" is about Sherlock and Watson's sadomasochistic sex life, while in "I Write You This Letter from a Foreign Land," Watson writes his deep feelings for Sherlock in a diary.

Foreign Policy says that there are novels such as "It's Alright, I'm Here, Sherlock," that explores the "lovers' long and convoluted path to couplehood."

A journalist working for Beijing-based Jinghua Times found that most of the people in China had seen the movie "Star Trek Into Darkness" for Curly Fu. The Chinese found it difficult to hate Cumberbatch's character because they had (as quoted by Foreign Policy) "never seen a bad guy so handsome before."