The show presented today is a recreation of a traditional entertainment attributable to a great variety of historical records and relics. In 1981, the artists of Xian's Shaanxi Provincial Song & Dance Troupe, inspired by the thriving tourist industry, conceived a series of programs to illustrate on stage the history, culture and artistic heritage of Xian. At that time, the Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show, as a comprehensive form of art being lost in admiration, promptly came into the sight of the artists.

In order to embody the characteristics of the music and the dance of Tang accurately, the artists spent much time reading the relevant books, historical records and monographs on the entertainments enjoyed by the royal court. They also set about learning traditional arts from folk artists and consulted experts on certain issues. With the written materials as a basis, they then visited many historical sites such as Dunhuang, Yungang and Longmen as these were a great source of contemporary visual information due to the presence of frescoes, carvings and sculptures.

Over a year was spent on preparation and using a visualization of the imperial court as its setting, the production was an integration of a series of successive programs of music, singing and dancing, manifesting a unique classical style and features typical of Xian. The specific work of composing and choreographing had been started in June of 1982 and through the joint efforts of many artists, the debut of the Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show on October 1st in that year proved to be a great success and was highly praised by a delegation from UNESCO.