Actor Wen Zhang portrays marshal Zhang Xueliang in TV series, Shao Shuai. [Photo/China Daily]

Most Chinese are familiar with the name Zhang Xueliang because of the Xi'an Incident, which changed the course of Chinese history but made the military leader lose freedom for the rest of his life.

The Xi'an Incident, which occurred on Dec 12, 1936, halted China's civil war and united the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, who together turned their guns against the Japanese invaders.

While scores of screen titles hail him as a patriotic hero, a recent hit TV series stretches its tentacles to his lesser-known early years, when the young Zhang was still a playboy and a troublemaker for his prestigious family.

Shao Shuai (Young Marshal, Zhang's nickname), a 48-episode biopic, has been airing on Beijing Satellite TV since Jan 11, with two episodes every night.

For those who missed the earlier episodes, streaming-video sites Youku and Tudou provide a second chance, as the series has been released on the two online platforms.

With flashbacks to Zhang's last years in the United States, the series mainly chronicles the legendary figure's life from the age of 12 to 36.

His multiple romances, including first wife Yu Fengzhi and soul mate Edith Chao, are featured in the series.

Actually Zhang's life was more dramatic and astounding than a writer could fictionalize.

At 12, the first and most spoiled son of Northeast China's warlord, Zhang Zuolin, Zhang had to live with his dictator father's four concubines after losing his mother.

At 27, the young man had to take his father's position after Zhang Zuolin was murdered by Japanese invaders.

At 36, Zhang allied with Yang Hucheng, a general commanding much of northwestern China, to arrest the Kuomintang's leader, Chiang Kai-shek, to force him to make a truce with the Communist Party.

After that it was all downhill, just like Zhang told the historian Te-Kong Tong: "All my stories conclude at 36."

After the truce, Zhang accompanied the released Chiang to the Nationalist government's capital but was put under house arrest for the next 40 years.

He regained his freedom only after Chiang died in 1975.

The TV series' writers were never short of material.

Jiang Qitao, the scriptwriter, spent a year looking through files and flew to Taiwan to meet people who knew about Zhang's later years.

"Zhang's life is pretty colorful. Even 100 episodes cannot cover all the tales and anecdotes," says Jiang.

Zhang Li, the director, says the crew finally decided to follow a storyline that "revolves on a young man's unlikely formative years".

The director is known for such historical dramas as Ming Dynasty in 1566 and For the Sake of The Republic of China. He believes the key to success in historical dramas lies in being faithful to the spirit of the story, not just recreating the facts.

"Zhang was betrayed by his best friend and forced to marry a woman he'd never known. While most young men of his age lived carefree lives then, he has to shoulder the responsibility to lead Northeast China," the director says.

"He was the kind of guy who lived amid struggles and suffered."

While Zhang Xueliang remains a controversial subject with historians, another kind of controversy haunted the man who was to play him - Wen Zhang.

When Wen took the job in 2014, he was caught up in a scandal of cheating on his pregnant wife with another actress.

Also, very few in the industry believed then that Wen would be a good choice to play a powerful marshal.

But Wen, 32, worked hard to prove himself.

Despite being born in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, he learned the northeastern dialect and spent time in the US researching Zhang's last years.

In the scenes featuring Zhang's drug addition, Wen ate and slept very little for two weeks to portray his character's exhaustion.

The cast also features award-winning actor Li Xuejian (Zhang Zuolin) and veteran actress Song Jia (Yu).

The latest statistics show the series at second spot on the nationwide ratings of the TV dramas.