In 2005, when actor Fang Xu and actress Siqin Gaowa worked together on a TV drama, Fang played the role of Di Renjie, a heroic figure and one of the great judges and administrators of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), known for his compassion, talent and incorruptibility, and Siqin Gaowa played the role of Tang empress Wu Zetian.

In the drama, Di won Wu's trust and favor. In real life, the pair became good friends. When Siqin Gaowa raised the idea of staging a play based on Lao She's novel, Rickshaw Boy, Fang quickly agreed to work with her again.

Rickshaw Boy is a masterpiece of 1930s Chinese literature. Its dramatic treatment of everyday details, vivid portrayal of characters and vibrant capturing of Beijing life lends itself to adaptation in a variety of forms, including films, plays and operas.

The actress became a household name after playing the novel's female lead, Huniu, in the 1982 film adaptation. She hoped to reprise the role in the play and invited Fang to play the male lead, Xiangzi, a poor young man from the countryside who comes to Beijing to become a rickshaw puller. Huniu is a tough and hot-tempered woman, who marries Xiangzi and dies in labor.

Eighteen years after those first discussions, the play is finally about to premiere. Fang, who later became a director, will lead an all-male adaptation, with Siqin Gaowa as consultant.