God knows. It's all very complicated.
For instance, if you look up Chinese Theatre on Wikipedia there's a mention of thing going back to 1,000BC. So it's old, older than "China" in fact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_ChinaHere's a quote regarding Han Dynasty shows, which you can't say have
nothing to do with "Martial Arts":
During the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), a wrestling show called Horn-Butting Show (Chinese: 角觝戲; pinyin: Jiǎodǐxì) flourished and became one of the so-called "Hundred Shows" (百戲) under Emperor Wu (reigned 141–87 BC). While most probably this was also a spectator sport, both textual and archaeological evidence suggests that performers were dressed in fixed roles and performed according to a plot. One such story the wrestlers re-enacted was the battle between a tiger and a magician named "Lord Huang from the East Sea" (東海黃公).[10] Han-period murals discovered from an aristocratic tomb in Dahuting, Xinmi, Henan, offer strong proof that entertainers performed at banquets in the homes of higher-ranking ministers during this period.[11]
But the people in the Han Dynasty would have no concept of "martial arts" either, since they didn't exist as discrete entities until the Ming Dynasty.
Who knows.
However, one thing is true - there's more of a connection between Chinese theatre and Chinese martial arts than most martial artists are aware of, so perhaps his books do something to redress the balance.