This movie is based on the famous Chinese folklore that is more than one and a half millennium old. The same folklore was what the Disney animation Mulan is based on, and similarly, it was what many Chinese movies/operas/plays based on.

Based on the Qing dynasty musical play that recounts the death of the Ming dynasty through the love story of its two main characters, young scholar Hou Fangyu and a courtesan named Li Xiangjun.