Story of a battle pivotal to China's modern history has long been overlooked on screen. Someone has now filled the breach, Xu Fan reports.

On the eve of the Red Army's Long March (1934-36), a milestone in China's revolutionary history, thousands of young soldiers fought until their last breath on Songmaoling, a mountain range in Fujian province, to cover the retreat of a major Red Army force.

The pivotal yet little-known battle is now being retold in Xue Zhan Songmaoling (The Battle of Songmaoling), a 24-episode online series that has been streamed on Youku since Oct 27.

The drama is produced under the guidance of the National Radio and Television Administration's internet audiovisual program management department and the Fujian Provincial Administration of Radio and Television.

For the director Liu Xuesong, who served in the People's Liberation Army for seven years, the series is a reminder of his military life.

"When I was a soldier with my troops stationed in a mountainous area in Yunnan province, I heard a lot of touching stories about the war's heroes," he says. "For a long time I had wanted to film such a tale."