"It was shocking," he said. "Rather than filming the battlefield, the movie focused on the struggle of ordinary people, on how unyielding they were during the war."

The movie has never been screened in China and was considered lost after World War II.

It was re-discovered by Chinese American filmmaker Robin Lung, who spent six years searching for the complete copy of the film and another three years repairing it.

The research and collaborative innovation center of Chongqing has acquired the right of using it for 20 years in China, including the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The year 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the WWII. In Chongqing, screening of the film will be moved to Hongyan Revolutionary Memorial Hall, a museum dedicated to the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the city.

Chongqing TV has decided to run it later this year, said Zhou Bo, deputy head of the publicity department of Chongqing. Several other provincial television stations also applied to use it.