Since the early 20th century China, Japan and India have been trying to adapt and develop the methodology of the European theatre. The artistic forms of this theatre possessed radical novelty as regards their civil and social content when compared with the traditional oriental formats. The entire contemporary Asian theatre resulted from reworking and interpretation of European models of drama theatre, which served also as a conduit for propagation of novel political ideas. This paper discusses the rise of huaju and its maturity as a dramatic and theatre form, running from the first half of the twentieth century to the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.