The Rise of Drama. The beginning of Chinese drama may be located in the zaju (variety play) of the Song era (960- 1279), which evolved over a long period from primitive songs and dances and many ancient palace and folk shows. Theater art of the Song period is generally categorized as Northern variety play or Southern drama.

Origins of the Northern Variety Play. The Northern variety play emphasized comedy and dialogue and inherited characteristics from court- and folk-dance dramas such as tayaoniang (stepping and singing woman), botou (move with head), and damian (big face), as well as the canjunxi (adjutant play), a sort of skit with musical accompaniment, which by the Song era already had many theatrical elements. By the Northern Song dynasty (960—1125) characters in an adjutant play were no longer limited to two, and instrumental and vocal music were incorporated into the...