TV series tells of heroic deeds

Stills from Pai Bao Jing Ying (EOD Elites), one of six stand-alone stories in the TV series New Generation. It features actor Shawn Dou (second from left in the front row) as bomb disposal specialist Liu Xishi celebrating a successful land mine sweeping mission with fellow soldiers. CHINA DAILY

Various acts of astonishing bravery amid incredible danger captivate viewers, Xu Fan reports.

When director Zhang Ting conducted research for a TV series about bomb disposal elites in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, he heard a thrilling story from local villagers.

Heavy rain, the story went, revealed an unexploded bomb on a hill. It became dislodged and rolled into a village house. It was powerful enough to cause deaths and injuries over a radius of 2 kilometers if it exploded. The ordnance－around 1.6 meters long－was originally dropped by the Vietnamese in 1979.

Upon receiving the report, a local garrison troop assigned a 24-year-old platoon leader to undertake the extremely dangerous mission of removing the bomb. Surnamed Liu, the officer transported the bomb, which was wrapped in thick quilts and then buried in sand, in the back of a pickup truck to an open field for detonation.

Before embarking on the risky journey, the young officer wrote a note on a tiny piece of aluminum foil inside his cigarette box. In the unusual "will", he penned down his bank account and password to his fiancee, telling her not to let his parents know the bad news within two years if he died during the mission.

"If there was one little accident, the explosive might go off. For the young man who was given the task of disposing of it, I believe his biggest challenge was to conquer the huge fear. He was very brave and worthy of respect," recalls Zhang during an interview with China Daily.

Once the driver reached the field, a controlled explosion took place but the blast went off before the driver could reach safety. Consequently, he suffered some injuries. He received a second-class merit for his brave deed. Zhang's production focuses on these types of stories.

Between May and August last year, the veteran director, also an award-winning scriptwriter, stayed most of the time with explosive ordnance disposal veterans of the People's Liberation Army in Guangxi and Yunnan province.

After interviewing more than 20 soldiers and officers, including those who participated in China's third large-scale land mine sweeping operation at the China-Vietnam border in 2016, Zhang got enough firsthand information to write the tale of Pai Bao Jing Ying (EOD Elites), one of six stand-alone stories in the anthology TV series New Generation.

Consisting of 48 episodes, the TV series also recounts the stories of a community technician, an aircraft engineer, a college graduate who volunteers to work in a far-flung village, a rural doctor and a civilian rescuer.

Statistics from the television data tracer Kuyun show that the TV series has reached around 15 percent of the television audience in first-tier cities, propelling it to soar as the most watched TV drama in the same broadcasting slot in these areas.

Hailed as one of the best stories in New Generation, EOD Elites－or the third unit－stars actor Shawn Dou as a young soldier, chronicling his transformation from a shy recruit to an experienced member of an elite team excelling in explosive removal missions.

"Aside from Dou and a few other major cast members, almost all of the cameo characters and extras are played by real soldiers and officers thanks to the support from the PLA," recalls Zhang.

For the director, it was an awe-inspiring experience to walk with local troops to trek into villages once struggling to earn a living in the mountainous areas, where millions of explosive munitions were laid down between 1970s and 1990s.

"In one village located deep in a mountainous area, all of its 187 locals have a total of 178 legs. Even most of the young children have lost one of their legs. Most of the soldiers recalled that they couldn't hold back their tears after first seeing the disabled locals and felt guilty for being incapable of protecting them," says Zhang.

Zhang still clearly remembers the first time he saw how the soldiers wrapped in protective suits, each weighing around 35 kilograms, to check the land inch by inch on mountains infested with snakes and mosquitoes in scorching summer heat with average temperatures exceeding 40 C.

"During the shooting, I believe most of the crew members were touched by the soldiers' noble spirit. Despite that we might not be able to re-create just one-tenth of the sufferings and hardship they experienced, I feel honored to tailor a TV story to tell of their devotion and dedication," says Zhang.

As the country's first such television story to unravel Chinese field army's EOD soldiers' military life, the tale has received widespread critical acclaim. Li Zhun, former vice-chairman of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, says the series has appealingly blended personal pursuit with the new demands of our country and the era to arouse resonance with young audience.

Stills from Pai Bao Jing Ying (EOD Elites), one of six stand-alone stories in the TV series New Generation. Actor Luan Yuanhui gets to grips with the wiring as he defuses a bomb. CHINA DAILY