Route of heroic endeavor

TV series sheds light on those who defied danger to risk their lives on a vital supply line, Xu Fan reports.

In early 1930s, when the Communist Party of China was in conflict against the Kuomintang, CPC decision makers secretly established a colossal network-which consisted of three routes-to connect its headquarters in Shanghai to the major revolutionary bases stretching from the north to the south of the country.

However, only one of the routes, known as "the red transportation line of CPC's Central Committee", survived the enemy's ruthless crackdown, managing to escort more than 200 Party leaders and cadres as well as vital wartime supplies-such as salt and medicine-carried by more than 6,000 bamboo shoulder poles to these bases in rural China.

Recently, the route which spans 3,000 kilometers has become the "protagonist" of a TV series.