Homage to heroes

Director Meng Ji

Its scriptwriter Wang Hai-ping says he decided to write the story in 2013 and soon received support from a top regulator for TV and related sectors.

Wang did lots of research, including reading documents and files from the US Military Academy and the military archives of ROK. He says every character in the series is inspired by reality.

"They (the soldiers) were great men," says Wang. "Each time I sat down to write an emotional part of the series, I couldn't hold back my tears."

Speaking of Li Changshun, one of the series' lead characters, Wang says the role is based on a Chinese sniper and a fisherman whose family members were killed in American bombing along China's border with DPRK in 1950.

The series' storyline looks at three main areas－fighting, transportation and a field hospital－and aims to re-create what happened during the war.

After a few episodes aired earlier in selected provinces, footage of the series released on the internet received viewer acclaim, such as 8.9 points of 10 on the country's most popular movie review site Douban.

Some online users also said the sequences featuring battles reminded them of the hit US series Band of Brothers. That war drama was produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks in 2001.