And operas were also staged on the plazas and streets of Chang'an. A special feature of city life during the Northern Song dynasty, was the "wa market," the red light district of a city where street performers would put on shows much like they do in major European cities today. The difference was in scale.
北宋都市裡特殊的景緻之一，就是戲場或演藝場集中的「瓦市」，藝人常常就在街市的空隙地段表演，就像今天歐洲許多大都市的街頭表演，但更具規模。