Spring in a Small Town, a 1948 film by late director Fei Mu, is among the finest from the early days of filmmaking in China.

When Li Liuyi, director and playwright of the Beijing People's Art Theater, first watched the film in the 1980s, he was so impressed that he wanted to adapt it for the stage.

In 2015, he finally made the play Spring in a Small Town, and presented it to audiences in Hong Kong and Shanghai.