A scene from Hope Mission. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Set in the 1930s, the 43-episode tale chronicles the lives of five students at the academy, which produced many commanders who fought in the Civil War and the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

In the series, the five students, disappointed by Kuomintang corruption, trek to Yan'an, then a revolutionary hub founded by the Communist Party of China, in search of values and righteousness.

Liu Guotong, the director who has done other war-themed productions, likens Hope Mission to a television version of "road film", a genre popular in the West, which refers to the main characters on a road trip.