In his book A General Discussion of Art, Chiang Hsun notes that during the Tang dynasty, when Zhang Xu and others wrote in the "mad" cao style, they accompanied their calligraphy with sword dancing and wine drinking, and while everyone was watching, they slashed out their characters in an instant. They even belted out wild screams. This kind of expression is close to modern performance art.
蔣勳在《藝術概論》一書中提到，唐代張旭等人寫狂草時，要配合舞劍、飲酒，然後當眾揮毫濡墨，甚至狂呼大叫，這樣的形式已接近現代表演藝術。