The Young Warriors (TV series)

The Young Warriors
Promotional poster featuring the main cast members
Genre	Costume drama, wuxia, romance, war drama
Written by	Wang Li Zhang Mian
Directed by	Lee Kwok-lap
Presented by	Wang Zhongjun
Starring	Hu Ge Lin Jiayu Tong Yao Cecilia Liu Peter Ho Chen Long Wei Xiaojun Justin Yuan Eddie Peng Liu Xiaojie Weng Jiaming Amy Chan Li Jie Zong Fengyan
Opening theme	Juebie Shi (诀别诗) performed by Anson Hu
Ending theme	Ershi Nian (二十年) performed by Zhang Mengmeng
Composer(s)	Mak Jan-hung
Country of origin	China
Original language(s)	Mandarin
No. of episodes	43
Production
Producer(s)	Karen Tsoi Wang Zhonglei
Location(s)	China
Running time	45 minutes per episode
Production company(s)	Chinese Entertainment Shanghai Huayi Brothers Media Corporation
Release
Original network	China Television
Original release	March 10, 2007
External links
Website

The Young Warriors is a Chinese television series based on a series of novels and plays that detail the exploits of the Generals of the Yang Clan during the early Song Dynasty. The series was joint-produced by Chinese Entertainment Shanghai and Huayi Brothers Media Corporation, with collaboration from a stellar cast of talents from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States and Canada.

In the 980s, former Later Han general Yang Ye pledges allegiance to Emperor Taizong of the Song dynasty. Yang leads his family and followers to defend Song from invaders of the Khitan Liao Dynasty. Having served Song for years, the Yangs are viewed as an honorable, courageous, and patriotic clan that protects the nation from foreign invasion.

Unfortunately, at the Battle of Golden Beach, the Yangs fall into a conspiracy trap, which concludes with the death of Yang Ye and four of his sons, and another son becoming a prisoner-of-war. Yang's last two surviving sons, Yang Yanzhao and Yang Yande, must continue their family's legacy to bring peace and prosperity to Song, in addition to seeking vengeance on the conspirators.

The series' war segments were later reused in The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2008) for the flashback scene depicting Yang Zaixing's death. The filmmakers obscured the actors' features to differentiate the two television series, but the images' compositions are the same.

The series' costume design is one of its main focal points. During its premiere, the production team hosted runaway events for cast members to showcase their costumes. The Yang generals and Yelü Xie's costumes were designed based on battle armour from the Tang, Song and Liao dynasties. However, the Yangs' armours attracted the most attention, as audiences felt that they resembled samurai armour more than Chinese armour, because of their bright red and black colouring, and long narrow plates. The Song military uniform designs were featured again in The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2008) and A Weaver on the Horizon (2010).