There are more than ten names for pei-ch'u tsa-chu. The names "yueh-fu," "ch'uan-ch'i," "pei-ch'u," and "Yuan-ch'u" were perhaps derived from ancient language, or perhaps referred to one characteristic of the drama among others; therefore, these names ceased to be used to refer to northern tsa-chu later. From the six other names, one can follow the trajectory of the development of pei-ch'u tsa-chu: the "yuan-pen" in "pei yuan-pen" shows a concise example from its period as skits or incidental theater. "Yuan-yao" or "yao-mo yuan-pen" shows it as it entered a transitional phase of major theater. "Yao-mo" shows it as it was named as a fully-realized form of major theater. "Tsa-chu" shows it as a fully realized major theater and also as the tradition which had taken over the position of Sung and Chin tsa-chu and had replaced it. Then "pei-chu" shows it in its form of opposition to "nan-hsi." pei-ch'u tsa-chu originated in Chin yuan-pen; Chin yuan-pen in turn. is not far removed from Sung tsa-chu. Because Sung tsa-chu entered the folk tradition, its actors were no longer from the palace; they became professional performing folk. This was the reason that the name was changed to "yuan-pen." Yuan-pen rapidly penetrated to the very lifeenergy of the people; it developed into a new form of drama taking its names from urban speech. There were two arieties, "yuan-yao" or "yao- mo." With "yuan-yao," we see that the leading role of the second ching, as the clown and jester, is changed i into the role of mo as the leading singer, in the arrangement of pei-ch'u. However, judging from the way that Sung and Chin tsa-chu yuan-pen is set up as "two parts under the same name," pei-ch'u should have been presented in two parts, as two different stories which shared similar dramatic plots and themes. Other names for yuan-pen include "yuan-ts'uan," which is a kind of act performed by the professional actors. This included steps and odd facial expressions as features of the performance. Because there are greater changes in the make-up of yuan-mo, it gave rise to such differently named styles as "yao- mo," "lang-mo," "p'ieh-mo," and "p'ieh-lang-mo," which were in fact all similar dramatic forms. Clearly, these forms all have the role of mo as their major performes. Moreover, they took the four idependent parts which were known from the Sung and Chin yuan-pen, and combined them into a new form which merged the traditional story lines. Only, while performing these, they still kept each part separate, one segment after the other, and in between segments they inserted music, dance, or special acrobatic or other variety performances; in this way they maintained the style of keeping each part independent as they always were. The year when "yao-mo" was established should be 1214, when Chin moved its capital to Nan-ching (Pian-ching). Sung and Chin "tsa-chu changed its name to "yuan-pen" and then "yuan-yao. "These changes must have taken place somewhere near the present K'ai-feng, Lo-yang and Cheng-chou. For this reason, pei-ch'u tsa-chu can really be called "the voice of the chung-yuan (central plains area)" with justification. As far as the change from the name "yao-mo," which is urban speech, to "tsa-chu" which is the form it replaced, this should have been after 1271, when Yuan Shih-tsu of the Yuan Dynasty changed the dynastic name to "Yuan," but before his sixteenth year (1276), when he destroyed the Sung. A skit tradition can juxtapose its sources in a concurrent display, but a great dramatic tradition can only have a single origin with many varying sub-traditions. So as the "yao-mo" or "tsa-chu" spread out of the chung-yuan (central plains) area into other regions, it necessarily developed into different sub-traditions by adapting to different dialects and different language styles. They became various regional dialect sub-traditions. The original home of pei-ch'u tsa-chu was Chung-chou (K'ai-feng, Lo-yang, and Cheng-chou in Ho-nan). Therefore, to sing traditional pei-ch'u, it is best to sing in the ancestral Chung-chou dialect. After pei-ch'u became well-established as an urban-centered tradition, it was most effective to sing in the Hsiao chi-chou style, technique and rhythms. When it spread to Hu-pei, it took on the "Huang-chou style" of theater. At the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming, Pei-ch'u music underwent a revolution and produced "Hsien-suo style." With the predominance of nan-ch'u's K'un-shan shui-mo style, it was transferred to use in pei-ch'u singing as well, and was called "Southern style pei-ch'u." Moreover, in examining the distribution of the place of origin of various dramatic authors, we find that in the early Yuan they came from the north, but in the late Yuan they came from the south. From this we can see the regional character of the creation and propagation of pei-chu. Again, examining it from the perspective of archaeology, we see that four important regions in the florescence of pei-chu during the Yuan period were Ta-tu, Chen-ting, Tung-p'ing, and P'ing-yang areas.