In September 2003, Li Liuyi founded the Li Liuyi Theatre Studio and produced Mu Guiying in the name of "New Drama". This was extraordinary. For a long time, the (mainland) Chinese theatre has mostly been operated following the officially administered theatre system. But Li liuyi, a theatre director at Beijing People's Art Theatre, does not confine his work to this model. Quite a number of Li's masterpieces were produced outside the system. His works often go beyond the conventional classification of "spoken drama" and "xiqu" (Chinese opera).

The story of Mu Guiying comes from a popular traditional Peking opera. In his later years, renowned actor Mei Lanfang memorably portrayed the character of Mu Guiying, ever since, the figure of Mu has become an image representative of the "patriotic heroine". The question now is how does Li recreate － or demystify － this legendary female figure?

The setting of Li's Mu Guiying is a beauty of simplicity, which reflects the combination of traditional and contemporary theatre technique that Li is good at. The white bath tube and two chairs on each side of it radiate an atmosphere of spatial-temporal purity just as the set of "one table, two chairs" would do in a Peking Opera. The night before she embarks on her famous military campaign, Mu Guiying took a shower, prayed at the hall of worship, showed respect to her ancestors and talked to the three men from three generations of her husband's family, in fact, to their passed soul. In this sense, their conversation is actually Mu's talks to herself. In other words, all the dialogues here are Mu's monologue. A woman's psychological dimensions in the night before setting out to the battlefield reflected in Li's staging are very different from previous adaptations which use this old story as a vehicle to satirize the present social and political reality.

One unique element of Mu Guiying is the music. The music composed by Guo Wenjing is part of the ensemble of actors. More than an accompaniment, it is another powerful performer. While the music conflicts or emerges with the performance of the actors, it gives a fresh sense of tensed excitement. Most breathtaking scene of Mu Guiying is when Mu cried out "Kill!" and took off her red robe, letting it flow in the darkness. Before this moment, her heart is in turmoil. She heard the voices of her dead family members, telling her the choices before her. But she knows what she wants. The director decides that at this very critical moment before she has to go the battlefield, Mu should take off her red robe. If this action carries a theatre symbol, it should be the one for female. Before Mu took off the red robe, what came over her mind?

Afterwards, men from Mu's husband family dressed her in warrior's armor and she eventually becomes the heroine whom everyone knows. Mu, the heroine, then sings and performs with a masculine long sword. When she cried out "Kill!", Mu may have departed from something and chose the heroine crown. What was the thing she departs together with her red robe? In what way did she choose to become her own self? At this moment, the performer is given dim light and barely visible, thus setting the heroine on the stage like a portrait in an old photo frame.

We can say that the ending of Mu Guiying is mysterious. The director finally made a heroine showed up on the stage, singing a song that is a clear patriotic declaration. This ending seems to bring the whole performance back to where the story should go. But one should not confine the abstraction of Li's works in such a way. Li's works tend to be more introspective, avoiding exaggerated ornamentation. The most unique quality of his work is the purity and tranquility of the stage, which becomes totally charged with the director's ideas and aesthetics. Although this production does not include interaction between actors and audience, various elements on the stage still deeply touch the audience's heart, thus triggering off another round of introspection in the mind of the audience.

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