About 90,000 people are said to have died in China’s historic 9,000-km Long March by the Red Army in 1934/35. Eighty-six years later, is the terrain just as treacherous?

New survival doc, "Journey of Warriors" sent Discovery survival star, Josh James (aka The Kiwi Bushman), and actor Wallace Chung, along with three other celebrities – Shawn Dou, Zhang Xinyu and Yang Xujia – on a mission to find out. 

Two of the six episodes focus on a 5,000 metre mountain pass in Sichuan in March and crossing the Wu River.  

The other four episodes are set against equally daunting landscapes, against which James explores history through the eyes of a Chinese celebrity. 

The cultural elements are mixed up with bushcraft and essentials like foraging for food in local areas. 

“While they are retracing a historical journey, a lot of the focus is on the survival aspects,” says veteran documentary maker Kyle Murdoch, who was part of the multi-country production team.  

The reality series, produced during the pandemic, debuted on Discovery at the weekend, following its debut on Tencent Video in China on 9 November. The first two episodes have been viewed 20 million times, according to Tencent. 

A seventh episode goes behind the scenes, with stories from the crew about, among other things, travelling in China during the pandemic. 

"Journey of Warriors" was produced by Singapore/China-based IFA Media with Murdoch’s Warrior Productions for primary commissioner, Tencent Video and Discovery.

"Journey of Warriors" was filmed by a crew from New Zealand working in China during the pandemic. Offline edit was done in New Zealand with final post in Beijing.  
 
“That’s what gets me up in the morning,” he told ContentAsia ahead of the Discovery premiere.

Murdoch, the former managing director of New Zealand’s NHNZ, left in August 2020 after almost 10 years. He set up his own indie shingle, Warrior Productions, in Dunedin especially for Journey of Warriors with Singapore-based IFA Media ("Traffickers"/HBO, "Nazi World War Weird"/National Geographic). 

Murdoch, once based in Beijing for Star TV/News Corp, is optimistic about the story pipeline out of China. 

“There are great China stories to be told that haven’t been told properly – or at all,” he says.  

"Journey of Warriors" started filming in China in March this year in four provinces, including Sichuan, Shenzhen and Hainan, with a combo crew from China and New Zealand.  

"Journey of Warriors" is part of Josh James quest to retrace some of the toughest journeys in history.

The survival issues, in comparison to navigating multi-country/province Covid-19 protocols, weren’t that bad, even if working at 5,000 metres above sea level, with thin oxygen and the risk of altitude sickness, blizzards and freezing temperatures, poses problems of its own, albeit ones with high entertainment value. 

One of the other episodes, with actor Shawn Dou, involved crossing a mountain range in northeast China. The team could save time by crossing a frozen lake, which is dangerous because there is no telling whether the ice is thick enough to carry their weight. 

 “This is always the challenge with survival shows,” Murdoch says. “You need the drama” but you don’t want anyone to die.  

Despite the survival challenges across brutal terrain, Murdoch said from a production point of view Covid-19 was a massive challenge.   

New Zealand crew members had to quarantine in China when they arrived and then, depending on provincial protocols, when they travelled to a different province. 

“It’s not a cheap procedure,” Murdoch said, adding: “It was touch and go whether we would be able to do it at all,” he says. “In hindsight, we were fortunate with the timing.”