The Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). With the development of the commodity economy, recreational activities of folk singing and chanting flourished. Chinese shadow show changed from entertaining god to entertaining people; from preaching scriptures to telling history stories, reaching to a level of unprecedented prosperity. Recorded in "Dong Jing Meng Hua Collection" by Meng Yuan Lao in
the Song Dynasty, "On the night of 16th in the first lunar month, a music canopy was set up at every gate in the capital city Bian Liang (Kaifeng city). The streets were filled with people. On the street where no music canopy was seen, there were small shadow show canopies. No matter what the weather was like, crowds of people congregated inside the canopy day after day." In the book "Event
Narration" by Gao Cheng of the Song Dynasty, it reads, "During the time of Ren Zong, shadow show 'The Three Kingdoms' was on in the capital city which attracted the wealthy families. Audience shed tears at the scene when Guan Yu was beheaded." Leather silhouette show performance started with storytelling, then transformed to plays based on fictions, short stories, public legal case, cavalry, and history script.
