Entertainment

Although your people have to work hard, they do want to have some diversion in their lives from time to time. People in Ancient China had musicians, acrobats and later also actors to entertain them.

Musicians

First, there are musicians to sing songs for the people. Musicians are trained at the Music School, and then walk to either the market square or the theatre pavilion to perform there. While they walk, they provide music access to all houses they walk past.

Acrobats

Acrobats are trained at the Acrobat School, and, just like the musicians, walk to either a market square or a theatre pavilion to show what they can do, meanwhile they provide acrobat access to all the houses they pass.

Actors

Drama only became popular in the later periods, so you won't be able to build drama schools or theatre pavilions in the earlier campaigns. Also, only the elites need drama to evolve. Actors are trained at the drama school, and then walk to the theatre pavilion, providing drama access to elite houses.

Announcers

When your performers arrive at the market square or the theatre pavilion, those buildings send out announcers, who walk past houses to announce that there are shows at the market square/pavilion. This way the houses get access to musicians and/or acrobats, depending which performers are currently at the market square.

Festival Performers

When you hold a festival for the New Year, the best performers in the city gather at one of the market squares in the city, and walk behind the traditional festival dragon, which starts at that market square and walks around your housing block in February. When the month turns over, the dragon, and the performers walking behind it, disappear. The houses retain access to the performers from the festival for a whole year.

Tips on entertainment

If you have one market serving only an elite block which has a theatre pavilion in it, you can shut down the entertainment area of the market: that way musicians and acrobats won't go to the market square, thus won't waste training them. Your theatre pavilion will provide all entertainment your houses in that block need. How to shut the entertainment area of a market square off? Right-click on the market, click on the button labeled "Entertainment Area ON" to turn it off. Click again to turn it on if needed.

You can make use of the first option to provide entertainment acces to houses (by musicians/acrobats/actors walking past your houses towards the market square) by building a long snake-like city, with only one market at one end of the 'snake' with the entertainment area turned on, and the schools at the other end of the snake. It isn't as practical as building your houses in loops, but it's possible.