(CRIENGLISH.com)
Updated: 2008-04-24 10:17

"People are living in spaces like boxes. The office is a box, the office building is like a box, the apartment is like a box, the car, the subway, the elevator, the file, the desk, the chair and books are all like boxes. It seems like everything is a smaller box inside a larger one."

After the cartoon was first released on the internet in late 2006, it soon attracted the attention of a lot of white collar workers. It is estimated that there are over 10 thousand fans across China, who often communicate with each other through online chatting rooms or forums.

Another cartoon maker Chen Gelei attributes the success to creators' experiences of working in offices, which enriched them with good understanding of the lives of today's young white collars.

"You can not say that Zhang Xiaohe is exactly like someone around us. He has many things in common with today's young workers and they can share his happiness, sadness and even some evil intentions."

You can also find the cartoon on newspapers and a book was published recently. With wide popularity, the cartoon has been put on the stage. "The Box" is the first play in the drama series "Office Affairs", which mainly tells stories of Zhang Xiaohe receiving a mysterious box that can realize his wishes. From working overtime and can't afford to get married, to failing to get a pay rise to sexual harassment, many fans became interested in Xiaohe's stories after going through similar experiences. The drama also provides tips of handling possible problems in the office.

Actually, many plots were taken from real life experiences of some white collar workers.

Fu Li, a fan of Zhang Xiaohe, often chats with the creators of the cartoon online and shares her own experience with them.

"I often talk with them. We are happy to provide some materials and tell them interesting things that happened in the office. It is a pleasant thing that they present our stories through the cartoon."

Since the drama's debut in early April, the play has been getting fairly good responses according to its producer Guo Yan.

"After two weeks of performances, we are continuously adjusting our play based on the suggestions of our audience. More and more people and companies are getting interested in the play. Their performance is improving as well."

Talking about why they chose to adopt this cartoon into a drama, Guo Yan says they have been planning it for a long time.

"We found from our survey that most of our audience are young office workers. They like the topics because they are closely related to their daily lives. Office work is the biggest part of our life, and there must be many stories that create resonance among the audience."

The Box is the first play in the drama series. Guo Yan says they are planning to make more stories after this one and they are going to promote the play in other parts of China soon.

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