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Famed Chinese cross talk master Ma Ji passed away for heart failure in Beijing on Wednesday morning. He was 72.
Famed Chinese cross talk master Ma Ji passed away for heart failure in Beijing on Wednesday morning. He was 72.
Ma Ji, originally called Ma Shuhuai, was born in 1934 in Beijing. For a time he was an apprentice in a factory. In 1951, he began to take an interest in Xiangsheng. In 1956, he was enrolled by the Central Broadcasting Recitation and Ballad Troupe as a professional Xiangsheng actor.
He not only inherited and developed Xiangsheng of the Hou School (school of the master performer Hou Baolin) but also created his own art style, which was followed by many successors. He has contributed a lot to China's Xiangsheng art.
Ma Ji exceled at performing new items reflecting real life. Apart from satire, he pioneered new items praising the new life and new heroes and heroines.
In addition to performing traditional items he started writing and performing cross-talk comic dialogues such as Ode to Friendship, Storm on the State and Multistory Restaurant, and solo comic dialogues like The Universal-Brand Cigarette. In Five Officers Contend for Fame, he was joined by several other comedians.
Ma Ji also set great store by theoretical research into Xiangsheng so as to make his creations more socially relevant. His books include Selected Xiangsheng by Ma Ji and An Informal Discussion on the Art of Xiangsheng.
Ma Dong, Ma Ji's only son works as talk show program host for CCTV.
Vocabulary:
cross talk master:相声大师
comedian:喜剧演员
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