In the late Han dynasty, after a large-scale peasant uprising, political power in China gradually became divided between three factions headed by Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan respectively. After Cao Cao's death, these three factions became the basis of the Three Kingdoms, which governed China for half a century.

The highly influential ancient Chinese novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms chronicles how the factions headed by Liu Bei and Sun Quan united against Cao Cao in a power struggle. This novel depicts Liu Bei as being both the true descendant of the royal familly as well as a model statesman.

This frequently performed Beijing Opera is known under the various titles "The Dragon and the Phoenix Show Their Colors", "Ganlu (Sweet Dew) Temple" and "Liu Bei Gets Married". Among its most outstanding features is the lengthy aria in which Qiao Xuan urges the Empress Dowager of the Kingdom of Wu to take Liu Bei as her son-in-law. One of the reasons this opera's popularity has remained undiminished for so many years is that it includes the full range of Chinese operatic roles: "sheng", "dan", "jing", and "chou".