Creators of Story of Yanxi Palace back with a new series

In 2018, the Story of Yanxi Palace got more than 18 billion views online, becoming one of the most popular series last year.

Now, its creators are back with a new drama, Arsenal Military Academy.

Here, producer Yu Zheng and director Hui Kaidong, have a 48-episode series that is showing across the Chinese mainland via the streaming site iQiyi.

The series, which began its run on Aug 6, is also being distributed in Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

The series is set in early 20th century, and it depicts a young woman who disguises herself as a man to take her brother's place in a military academy.

The main scenes were shot in Zhejiang province's Hengdian World Studios, and is called "China's Hollywood" by some foreign media outlets.

The producers said that the major set, a complex featuring early 1910s architecture, took more than 800 workers over four months to complete. The complex covers an area of around 20,000 square meters.

The main stars – Bai Lu, Xu Kai and Hong Yao – recently attended a press conference in Beijing to share behind-the-scenes stories.

Bai, who stars as the female protagonist, recalls that it was a hard decision to cut her hair short for the role. Besides, she also did a one-month military training program, including learning to use weapons.