In the late 19th and the early 20th century when western drama and New Japanese Drama burst into China, Chinese drama experienced dramatic reform due to the huge changes in China's social, economic and political conditions. Under these circumstances, modeling on western realistic drama, New-Style Drama, or Civilized Drama -- the so-called modern drama in China came into being.

With the abortion of the Revolution of 1911, civilized drama, which sprung up along with the revolution, also went downhill step by step. It was Ren Tianzhi, one of the founding fathers of Chinese modern drama, and the Evolution Club headed by him, that kept enriching civilized drama. Despite its decline, civilized drama paved the way for the birth of "May Fourth Movement", new drama.

Later, in 1928, as proposed by famous dramatist Hong Shen, modern Chinese drama was defined as a dramatic form employing dialogue and stage activity as the major vehicles of expression. This imported dramatic form at last obtained a generally recognized definition, as Hua Ju in Chinese.