The word "Bai Xi" is a homonym of "Ba Xi" in ancient Indian Sanskrit. It originally meant "interesting things", but later it was extended to skills, tricks and deception ... (Zhang Heng recorded a court Indian acrobatic performance in Xijing Fu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, including acrobatic programs such as swallowing knives, spitting fire and hitting snakes. )
In fact, the "Hundred Dramas" after the Han Dynasty brought together a variety of folk performance skills from the previous generation and foreign countries, including wonderful programs from ancient and modern nationalities and regions at home and abroad. At the same time, original dramas with a little plot began to appear. Of course, there must also be a conservation project in which man and beast are balanced and everyone struggles.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Qin Lun, a Roman (Egyptian) businessman, paid tribute to Sun Quan's gnome acrobatic troupe. After the Jin Dynasty, Roman merchants appeared in China more frequently, Buddhism poured in, various cultures blended, and entered the folk with the wind of plot entertainment, and performers began to be called "actors". But this is a derogatory term, because at that time, the status of actors was very low.