Mime, one of the oldest forms of entertainment,
is considered by a lot of people as a form of skit. This is not
correct. Mime, in a strict sense, is a soundless performing genre of drama,
consisting of comedies, tragedies as well as tragicomedies. As a good mime
actor, he is supposed to master dramatic performing skills, techniques of
acrobatics and literal knowledge.
Since the 1980s, some dramatists used
soundless performance to express daily life. It was during this period that mime
gradually rose as a new art form of drama. Mime became popular in Hunan Province
and later, places around. In 1987, Hunan Mime Troupe staged their plays in Hong
Kong, which got well-received.
But in recent years, due to wide
popularization of TV in China, the emergence and commercialization of other
entertainment art forms, mime is obviously in decline and losing its
market.