The three-hour moving performance condenses the essence of the original work with millions of words and pays tribute to every ordinary and great people. Adapted from Liang Xiaosheng's novel of the same name, A Lifelong Journey takes the life of Zhou Bingkun as a clue, and deeply shows the real life and struggle of a dozen ordinary characters.

As the first adaptation of Liang Xiaosheng's literary work, the drama has assembled a powerful production team and performance lineup since its production in 2021. Yang Jiayin, winner of the National Drama Culture Award and director of Beijing People's Art Theatre, is the director of the play. He said at the media conference before the premiere that the duration of the performance was relatively fixed, so it's very difficult to adapt the drama. At the beginning of the production, the creators had several rounds of discussions on how to present the masterpiece in three hours with the original flavor. "Novels can be described in details, but drama needs to be concise, delicate and even 'rough'. The story and characters need to be shown in front of the audience quickly." Yang Jiayin also said that he was not worried about audiences comparing drama with teleplay, "Although expressed in different ways, the two are shown from the original work. They both have their own charm."

The story line of the play stretches from the 1970s to the present, including major events and changes in Chinese society over the past 50 years. The plot takes the life path of the Zhou family as a clue, and shows the story of their fate as long as half a century.