The drama is adapted from Lao She’s novel Divorce, which is one of the author’s favorite works.

With Lao She’s humor and unique characteristics of Beijing, Mr. Li’s Fantasy of Love is a tragedy of ordinary townsfolks that makes viewers laugh with tears. The drama centers on the “divorce” wave sweeping Mr. Li and other clerks of Beiping Office of Finance. Everybody, decent or not, literate or not, is getting a divorce, which reflects citizens’ embarrassment and sadness in the face of the new civilization against the backdrop of traditional Chinese culture. Back then, divorce was just introduced to China, our country with an ancient civilization, making some old-fashioned families itch for a try. In the twisted society, however, no matter how “solemn” as first, such things were doomed to end as a farce. Vulgar philosophies, such as being keen on face-saving, easy to make compromises, cowardice, making concessions to avoid trouble, self-deception and being perfunctory, prevent them from making reasonable decisions. As a result, they made a scene and put an end to it with no one getting divorced.

Lao She once said, “My writing style began with this novel. When writing Divorce, I decided to abandon the stale classical Chinese and go for expressions that are closer to daily life. I hope to create fresh aesthetics via the language of ordinary people. Divorce is the first, and probably the best, example of writing that is concise and refreshing.”