The background of Cao Yu's Sunrise:
After writing Thunderstorm, Cao Yu felt that it was a bit too much like a play, and at the same time, his thoughts were more influenced by the left-wing literary world, so he created Sunrise, which was more clear-cut in its ideology and more natural in its approach.
Sunrise, Cao Yu's second play, was written in 1935, when the author was teaching at the Hebei Women's Teachers College in Tianjin. Cao Yu's daughter Wan Fang recalled that Cao Yu even disguised himself as a counting artist to experience life in a brothel in order to portray Cui Xi's situation in his work.
Expanded:
But the tragic fate of Chen Bai Lu is still a plot thread that runs through the whole play. Chen Bailu's plot has its own content, Chen Bailu's life in the hotel, her relationship with Fang Dasheng, her past love with the poet, her suicide and so on.
And as a clue, it strings together bits and pieces of life. With Chen Bai Lu's relationship with Pan Yue Ting, it radiates into the plot of Jin Ba, Pan Yue Ting, Li Shi Qing, and Huang Province, where the big fish eat the small fish and the small fish eat the shrimp.
With Chen Bailu dealing with the ghosts, it radiates a cross-section of the lives of Grandma Gu Bachi, Hu Si, and George Zhang. With Chen Bailu rescuing the little things, it radiates into the writing of Bao and the third act of the next place.
The principle is that several flowers bloom, each with its own branch, and because of the thread that runs through Chen Bai Lu, it gives it the integrity of a dramatic structure. The playwright arranged Fang Dasheng to find Chen Bailu later left the hotel as the introduction of the whole play, in addition to unveiling Chen Bailu Zhujun era of life curtain corner, but also make the overall sense of strengthening.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Sunrise