Dou Erdun was a Robin Hood-like outlaw who was active in Hebei Provinc during the early Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The story of the struggle between Dou Erdun and the father-and-son duo of Huang Santai and Huang Tianba, a man in the service of Qing Emperor Kangxi, was first popularized by itinerant storytellers and later included in the three novels The Cases of Lord Peng, The Cases of Lord Shi and The Cases of Lord Yu. The tales contained in these three novels are all based on true events and the lives of real people and have been elaborated into fascinating stories.

The main characters in this play are the wusheng (warrior) Huang Tianba and the hualian (painted face character) Dou Erdun. During the 1920s and 1930s, the striking make-up and startling acrobatics of Yang Xiaolou in the role of Huang Tianba, and the bold gestures and resonant singing of Hao Shouchen in the role of Dou Erdun, made quite a sensation.