傳奇承壟戲文的基礎而來，在明代萬曆年間發展達到巔峰。其中，文人傳奇不僅在音樂方面建立了嚴密精進的聯套組織規律；在藝術審美方面，更依循中國文化的軸心傳統，創造了以寫意和抒情見長的戲劇美學。文人傳奇特質發揮到極致，便出現像湯顯祖(1550-1616)《牡丹亭》那樣高度文學化的典範，也展現了文人傳奇劇作家對「戲劇本質」的獨到認知。明末清初，這股極端詩文化的審美風潮，卻隨著市民階層的興起，更多通俗觀眾參與，戲劇觀念漸趨劇場化等等因素，出現了調整。明中葉以來世情小說摹寫世態的寫作風潮，則提供了寫作的技巧和養料。清初以李漁(1611-1679)爲代表的劇作家和「蘇州派」劇作家表現最爲亮眼。他們偏離了明傳奇的寫意軌道，向另一個方向（相對寫實）偏靠。這段發展實質，是「戲劇結構」和「戲劇技巧」許多前所未見的內涵之產生。從文字表現來看，「賓白」的寫實化傾向是最引起注意的。這些賓白實際擔負刻劃人物的功能，和曲文分量成對等之勢。清初傳奇賓白以市井語言刻劃人物氣性，以生活細節營造現實場景，關注的焦點已由人物身分提昇到特定狀態下的情緒表露。然而，中國戲曲終究沒有從這個點叉出去，發展出「話劇」形式的新品種戲劇。原因很複雜，戲曲養成時間漫長，已然建立了成熟嚴密的審美體系，難以片面割捨。在中國戲曲「以曲爲本位」的結構特質下，賓白再怎麼高度發展，始終得與曲文相生相與，並不曾取得主導地位。清初傳奇賓白的寫實化表現，儘管只是驚鴻一瞥，卻還是完成了此一階段實踐的豐碩成果，爲中國戲曲對話的寫作創造了時代的獨特風姿。

Chuanqi developed on the basis of Xiwen, and reached its climax in the Wanli reign of Ming dynasty. Literary chuanqi developed to an extent that examples such as the highly literary Mudanting (The peony pavilion) written by Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) demonstrated the intellectual-as-playwrights distinctive perception of the "essence of drama." From the end of Ming to the beginning of Qing, this extremely poetic aesthetics went through adjustment with the rise of citizen class, more participation of ordinary people as audiences, changing ideas of drama, etc. The realistic fiction that depicted the society and that emerged since the mid-Ming provided the techniques and materials for the later change in drama. Li Yu (1611-1679) and playwrights of the Suzhou school could best represent the drama in the beginning of Qing dynasty. Their works derailed from the romantic tradition in Ming chuanqi and headed towards the realistic. This period of time saw the emergence of tighter dramatic structure and dramatic techniques. In terms of writing, dialogue (binbai), which helped to portray characters, became more realistic and colloquial, and switched its focus from indicating social status to expressing emotions under specific circumstances. However, Chinese (sung) drama or opera did not further develop into the form of "spoken drama" due to complicated reasons. Sung drama had developed over a long time and established a sophisticated aesthetic system. In Chinese sung drama, which centers on arias, dialogue has to coexist with lyrics, never taking the dominant role no matter how well it has developed. Nevertheless the realistic dialogue in chuanqi of early Qing. despite its brief appearance. set up examples of the writing of dialogue for Chinese sung drama with its significant accomplishments.