ABSTRACT
The narrative arts are commonly believed to be descended from the biànwén (transformation texts1)of the Tang dynasty (618-907). Biànwén consisted of stories performed by professional storytellers who used large paintings to illustrate various points of the texts, which were created to teach Chinese audiences about Buddhist doctrine. This form of multimedia attracted large audiences from a number of social classes and thus became a popular form of entertainment during much of the Tang period (Mair 1989: 170).
