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- Entertainment in Ancient China
From literary sources and actual archaeological discoveries, we know that music played an important part in the daily life of ancient China. Music was played to accompany important ceremonies and for pure enjoyment. Real instruments such as musical stones, zithers, panpipes, sets of bells, flutes and drums were sometimes buried as part of the grave goods for the aristocracy.
Acrobats, dancers, court jesters and story tellers were all part of the entertain�ment scene in ancient China. During the Western Han dynasty, there was a bureau of skilled personnel set up to meet the needs of the emperor. This bureau, known as the Yellow Gate, included not only painters, Confucian scholars and astrologers, but also jugglers, wrestlers and fire-eaters. They could be called upon at any time to display their skills in the imperial presence and were known as daizhao, or officials in attendance of the emperor. The aristocracy also had their own troupes of performers to entertain guests in style.
In 1969 a painted Han dynasty pottery model of tumblers, acrobats, dancers and musicians entertaining courtiers and officials was excavated at Jinan in Shandong province (fig. i). These figures of dancers and acrobats along with other free�standing Han entertainers, convey a strong sense of movement through their pose and gestures. The most charming and realistic of all the Han entertainment figures, so far excavated, are the pottery figures of story tellers found in Eastern Han tombs in Sichuan province (fig. iv). Their expressive pose and detailed facial features are full of life and energy.
In later dynasties, most notably the Northern Wei dynasty, dancers and musi�cians continue to be an integral part of the tomb figurine sets placed in the tomb vaults of members of the aristocracy. Figurines of female musicians tend to be seated (fig. 23), while the male musicians are usually mounted on horseback as part of processions and armies. It is believed that military music originated with the nomadic tribes of the northwest.
Tomb figurine sets of dancers with long, narrow-sleeved dresses have been excavated from numerous Sui and Tang dynasty tombs. During the prosperous Tang dynasty, foreign people came over the Silk Road to the Tang capital of Changan to trade. Foreign cultures had an important impact on the Chinese culture, and music and entertainment were no exception. Troupes of dancers and female orchestras were part of the tribute gifts which embassies from Persia and Central Asian countries brought to the Chinese court, and they were important in developing a taste for the exotic at the capital. The music and dances of the oasis city, Kucha, in Central Asia especially seems to have been favoured at the Tang court. The Tang Imperial Music School with three branches in the city of Changan and one in the palace itself, trained musicians, singers and dancers for imperial performances. Orchestras were divided into standing and seated musicians, who played at prescribed places and occasions.
The seated orchestras were used for instrumental and vocal entertainment orfor the accompaniment of a small number of dancers. The standing orchestras were, as a rule, for larger performances with up to 140 dancers. The musicians making up the orchestras played a variety of instruments which usually included the zither (qin) drums (pipa), and various flutes. Many images of male and female musicians and dancers are found among Tang dynasty tomb figurines, attesting to the importance of entertainers, both foreign and Chinese, in this period of luxury and splendour (fig. vi).
After the Tang dynasty, tomb figurines declined in quantity and we find very few
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