Historians of Chinese theatre usually regard the Song Dynasty (960–1279)
as a period noted for the emergence of a fully developed theatre, and the following
Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368) as the golden age of classical Chinese
drama. Yet long before theatrical performances became a form of popular entertainment,
there were religious rituals aimed at pleasing the gods and bringing
good fortune to humans. Some of these early theatrical forms still exist in
the remote regions of the country, essentially unchanged by modern civilization.
During the summer of 2002, I attended a weeklong conference on Chinese
ritual drama held in Maoxian, Sichuan province, where I saw a ritual
performance by the Qiang minority people, whose history is as old as the Chinese
civilization itself.