Actress Liu Shishi in The Battle at the Dawn.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Liu Jiang, the director, says the production is a salute to the first generation of Communist policemen who tackled criminals in a complex environment.

Despite the nature of the subject, the series has star power.

Wang Qianyuan, a veteran actor who won the best actor award at the Tokyo International Film Festival for The Piano In A Factory in 2011, plays the lead as the public security bureau chief, Cheng Qiang, in Harbin.

Wang says that he learned a lot about the risks of police work during the shooting. He says that there are nearly 6,000 fatalities among the police in China every year.

Actress Liu Shishi, known for a series of fantasy epics, will star as a Kuomintang spy in the series.