Part one of term paper
Formative period. Singing and dancing were performed at the Chinese court as early as the Chou dynasty (C.1111-255 BC). An anecdote describes a case of realistic acting in 402 BC, when the chief jester of the court impersonated mannerisms of a recently deceased prime minister so faithfully that the emperor was convinced the minister had been ...

Part two of term paper
... the nomads of Central Asia by the 2nd century BC and were called the "hundred entertainments". During the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) palace singers acted out warriors’ stories, the forerunners of military plays in later Chinese opera, and by the time of the Three Kingdoms (AD 220-280) clay puppets were used to enact plays. These evolved into glove-and-stick puppets in later years. T’ang period. The emperor Hsuan-tsung showed interest in the performing arts, stimulating many advances in sta ...