The book is intended to become a useful reference for theatre people who need “China knowledge”. Its central questions are: how is traditional Chinese theatre (“Chinese opera”, i.e. xiqu) embedded in contemporary Chinese society? What identities are created through theatre? And, most importantly: how are these identities related to one another to form a complex “economy of identities”? An insight is offered into the traditional Chinese theatre system composed of over three hundred theatre types vying for recognition in a complex relational network. Understanding how this “relationality” works might also shed light on the functioning of other fields in the current socio-cultural complex of China.