Actor Li Jian stars the family business heir-turned warrior in the 36-episode TV series The King of Guns. [Photo provided to China Daily]

TV series The King of Guns, loosely based on the Communist Party-led guerrilla force who fought against Japanese invaders in northeastern China between the 1930s and 1940s, has run on the Beijing Satellite TV since Sept 19.

The 36-episode series chronicles the rise of a family business heir, who transforms from a wealthy, overseas-educated college graduate to a soldier.

The army was led by Communist Party of China in then Japanese-occupied northeastern China and had evolved to be part of the People's Liberation Army.

As most of the scenes were shot in Daxing'anling Mountains in Heilongjiang province, director Li Yin reveals their biggest "enemy" was the cold weather, in a recent Beijing promotional event.

"The temperature was -40 C in winter. Some of the cameras couldn't function as normal under the chilly environment. When we opened the hot food containers, the food would be quickly frozen," recalls Li, speaking about their filming experience there earlier this year.

To shoot around 6,000 explosion scenes, the crew used more than 40,000 prop bullets.

Actor Li Jian and actress Xu Fanxi lead star the series.