The image stayed with Yu for more than a decade before she developed it into a script for the Huaiju Opera troupe of Taizhou, Jiangsu province.
"I kept wondering what would happen if this mirror appeared in an otherworldly place. What would different people desire deep in their hearts, and how would their fates change?" says Yu, 32.
The resulting play centers on two characters trapped by traditional expectations: a widow who has spent years upholding her chastity, and a scholar who repeatedly fails the imperial examinations but remains consumed by his pursuit of official success.
In a dreamlike world, both get what they have long wanted. Yet fulfillment brings fresh troubles rather than happiness, turning their fantasies into a psychological nightmare.
Instead of relying on spectacle alone, the production uses the mirror to examine desires that can gradually become prisons.
