Set in an old Beijing teahouse, Yutai Teahouse, Lao She's famous 3-Act play portrays the lives of the owner of the teahouse, Wang Lifa, and his customers through fifty years of upheaval in China. Spanning from 1898 to late 1940s, when the scenes change from late Qing dynasty to the early days of the Republic, then to the years after 1945 when Guomindang soldiers overtake the city. Lao She successfully created a masterpiece of theatre in old Beijing dialect.