Shuochang (storytelling that combines singing and narration) is the major feature of Chinese Quyi arts. As for when the art of Shuochang dates back, people nowadays have no way to know it. While the Terracotta Storyteller of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) unearthed in a tomb on a cliff of Tianhui Mountain in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, provides some clues to this.

The Terracotta Storyteller of Eastern Han Dynasty

The terracotta man, 55 cm high, is made of marlaceous ceramics. With bare arms and feet, he encircles a round drum with his left arm and holds a drumstick in his right hand. He seems to be telling an exciting story before a large joyful audience and thus cannot help dancing in excitement. The terracotta man shows us in full the lifelikeness and liveliness of the art of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). This piece of cultural relic is now in the National Museum of Chinese HIstory.

The terracotta storyteller adopts a realistic method to portray a storytelling artist, and reflects the superb sculpture techniques of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It proves that the storytelling art had gradually turned mature and had been prevalent among ordinary people by then. It is not only an outstanding work of Chinese sculpture art, but also an important real object material in the development history of Quyi art in China.