Ma Sanli (

Xiao'erjing Xiao'erjing or Xiao'erjin or Xiaor jin or in its shortened form, Xiaojing, literally meaning "children's script" or "minor script" (cf. "original script" referring to the original Perso-Arabic script; zh, s=本经, t=本經, p=Běnjīng, Xiao ...

: , ; 1914 – 11 February 2003) was a Chinese comedian in the traditional

Xiangsheng Xiangsheng (), also known as crosstalk or comic dialogue, is a traditional performing art in Chinese comedy, and one of the most popular elements in Chinese culture. It is typically performed as a dialogue between two performers, or rarely as ...

or "crosstalk" style.

Biography

Ma was born in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

; he was of the Hui ethnic group, and the son and grandson of practitioners of Xiangsheng. He was apprenticed to

Zhou Deshan Zhou may refer to: Chinese history * King Zhou of Shang () (1105 BC–1046 BC), the last king of the Shang dynasty * Predynastic Zhou (), 11th-century BC precursor to the Zhou dynasty * Zhou dynasty () (1046 BC–256 BC), a dynasty of China ** We ...

in 1929. Ma was a Chinese

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, his faith being

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

. He came to be noted for avoiding complication in a way that kept his performances accessible to a mass audience. He pursued his art in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

. He became a widower in 1984. In December 2001, Ma retired from the Xiangsheng trade. On 11 February 2003, he died in Tianjin after a long battle with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

.相声泰斗马三立辞世 (Ma Sanli Dies at 90)
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Works

* Nonsense * Drunken old man * Chasing * Car horn * Health check * The charm of the comic * Recipe * Eat dumplings * Sloppy * Eighty-one floor * Write Pair * Meeting the fans * Physiognomy * Emotional and health * Xijiangyue * Boast Residential * Remedies * Pairs * Three Character Classic * Pull foreign films * Buying Monkeys * Meeting Fiend * Yellow Crane Tower
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References

External links

1914 births 2003 deaths Male actors from Beijing Chinese xiangsheng performers Hui people Chinese Muslims Chinese male stage actors 20th-century comedians {{comedian-stub