The Litchi Road, a play adapted from Ma Boyong's popular eponymous novel, premiered on Thursday at Theatre Above in Shanghai.

The play tells a story of a nearly impossible task unexpectedly assigned to a low-ranking official named Li Shande in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Designated as a "Lychee Ambassador," he is forced to transport fresh lychees, which spoil quickly in a few days, over a distance of thousands of miles from Lingnan in southern China to the capital Chang'an (today's Xi'an, Shaanxi province) under extreme time constraints and harsh conditions.

The original novel has also been adapted into a film and a TV series, both of which will hit the screen shortly this year. Compared with the other two adaptations, the play takes a unique approach of presentation and expression on stage, featuring more vibrant body movements of the performers and a special stage design using LED tube lightning to better connect to the modern world, said Li Mengze, director of the play, at a meeting on Wednesday in Shanghai.