ABSTRACT
The Hundred Shows or baixi was the predominant form of entertainment for nearly eight hundred years from the Han (206 bc–ad 220) to the Six Dynasties (220–589). With its origin half in myth and shamanism and half in court and folk performance, the Hundred Shows displays itself as a perfect combination of religious ritual and secular entertainment on the one hand, and on the other hand, as a disparate mixture of a variety of shows ranging from singing, dancing to music and miming, to acrobatics and martial arts, which are to be synthesised into xiqu.
