The maker sees the film as a fairytale. It is however a modern and political fairytale. It's an ironic adaptation of the Hollywood film Roman Holiday by William Wyler. This time not with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, but with Mei-Ling (in other words Mrs Chiang Kai-Shek) and the film maker himself. Before the revolution, Mei-Ling was the first lady van China, but now, so many years later, she is led as a doll around Beijing by a Westerner.