[4] The script was published in the national journal Juben (劇本) or Playscripts in 1962, with Meng and Lu Fang (陸放) credited with the writing and music respectively.
[8] Reviewers writing for the People's Daily praised the "importance placed on Li Huiniang, her quest for vengeance, and the consistency of her actions and temperament throughout the play.
[11] In January 1965, the Theatre Report published an editorial which stated that "Comrade Meng Chao's revised edition of the Kun opera Li Huiniang is a poisonous, anti-Party, antisocialist thought weed.
"[12] In June of the same year, Lishi jiaoxue (History Teaching) published an essay titled "Comrade Meng Chao's Adaptation of the Kun Opera Li Huiniang Is a Poisonous, Anti-Party, Anti-Socialist Thought Weed".
[14] Unable to produce evidence that authorities such as Kang Sheng had initially approved of his play, Meng unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide in the late 1960s.
The doctor attending to him at the hospital reportedly refused to operate on him until being given the green light by party officials, who opined that a "big traitor" like Meng could not be allowed to die.