[4][5][6] One of the distinguishing feature of his movies of that period was the novelty or using fellow, socialist Chinese citizens as the subjects of satire, instead of the previously common, and safer, "corrupt GMD officials and snobbish urban socialites.
"[2] The works released during that brief period departed from the state-sanctioned topics aiming to legitimize the new state, offering "moral edification and celebrating the triumph of revolutionary virtue over reactionary villainy".
[1] The Man Who Doesn't Bother about Trifles (Buju xiaojie de ren, 1956) was the least controversial of the trio, likely due to "its trivial subject matter and mild satirical style".
[1][5] Lü Ban was accused of "mocking new persons and new things in a new Chinese society in the name of comedy"[10] and in general, undermining socialist morality and attacking the Party.
[1][6][11] Lü Ban's fate was one of the reasons for other Chinese film makers putting more effort into self-censorship and abandoning the genre of satirical comedy (the next one would not appear in Chinese theaters until the mid-80s);[1][11] for years to come, the dominant model of comedy in China became one that avoided conflict, and presented safe stories involving "model socialist citizens" learning how to better live in the "harmonious socialist society".