Documentary 1950 They Are Young Photo: Sina Weibo

1950 They Are Young, a new documentary pays homage to veterans of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army held its premiere in Chengdu, Sichuan Province on Saturday. 

The event took place ahead of its broad release in Chinese mainland cinemas on Friday, a day after the eighth batch of the remains of those heroes who gave their lives during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53) are set to return to China from South Korea. 

The documentary records the real life experiences of 50 veterans of the war, 26 of whom appear in interviews in the film. 

Since 2014, the remains of the Chinese heroes have been gradually returned from South Korea to China. The first batch included 437 remains, and over the years that total number has grown to 716. The latest batch of returnees is set for Thursday. 

"There is a veteran soldier in the film who wishes to locate his teammate's body and bring it back to China before he passes away. Audiences who have watched this movie before couldn't help but cry over this detail. It's not just this old veteran soldier, our country will always remember these heroes and help them return home to their families," the documentary's director Song Kunru told media at the premiere. 

The upcoming documentary and its touching real stories have ignited high anticipation among netizens. A related topic on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo shows that an old veteran soldier cries as he recalls how he lost a teammate during the war, saying "the bomb came down, our whole team was then separated," has earned over 1 billion views on Sina Weibo. 

"Waiting for these heroes to come back," posted one netizen on Sina Weibo. 

"Their stories made me even more determined to join the army to safeguard the country in the future. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be here. They paved the way for us, and I'm going to continue it." Yao Yi, a 14-year-old teen, told the Global Times on Sunday.