Fantasy history is a novel idea as authors delve into the past

Time travel to ancient dynasties gives readers a sense of escape, reports Xu Junqian in Shanghai.

By day, Liu Wen is just one of the millions of women office workers in this bustling city, spending eight hours, five days a week, curled up in her stifling cubicle typing and making phone calls.

But when darkness falls, back in front of a meter-long desk and pink-shelled laptop in her cramped bedroom, the 26-year-old recruitment consultant enters a world of fantasy where she becomes a charming princess living in a vast expanse of desert during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).