By Guo Ying

Errenzhuan performed by Xiao Shenyang and his wife Shen Chunyang

While not well known among foreign audiences, Zhao Benshan is a household name in China. Zhao’s comical skits are well-known throughout the country and have been a fixture of CCTV’s famous Spring Festival Gala, helping to foster a renewed interest in Errenzhuan, a traditional comic performance from which Zhao draws a lot of inspiration.

Originating in Northeast China, Errenzhuan dates back more than 200 years. Usually performed by a man and a woman, Errenzhuan is a form of storytelling involving traditional singing and dancing. With paper-fans and silk handkerchiefs as props, actors sing high-spirited northeastern folk songs and perform traditional dances celebrating sowing and planting.

Different from well-established performance styles such as Peking Opera, Errenzhuan is a grass-roots tradition that is deeply rooted in ordinary people’s life throughout the northeast. The dramatic style first began as dances and songs performed by farmers in the off-season, and only later developed into a professional form of public entertainment.

Not everyone is a fan of the folk performance, though. Due to the occasional flirting that occurs between the actors on stage, some see it as vulgar and tasteless. In several areas, the local government even forbids the use of such potentially unsavory expressions.

Recognizing this problem, Zhao Benshan has launched a “Green Errenzhuan Movement” that aims to develop a more a less profane style of Errenzhuan. Zhao has called on all Errenzhuan performers to obey certain standards, rather than blindly catering to some audiences’ taste. Zhao hopes that a more family-friendly form of Errenzhuan will eliminate misconceptions about the drama and help introduce more people to the art form.

As the leader of the Liaoning Folk Art Troupe, Zhao is helping to popularize Errenzhuan across the country. Zhao personally directed and acted in the soap-opera Liu Laogen, which was about Errenzhuan. Due to his efforts, many Errenzhuan troupe have been invited to perform in Beijing and Shanghai’s most renowned theaters. The success of Liu Laogen has spawned eight franchised Liu Laogen Stages around China, which host Errenzhuan troupes and performers. In 2008, Zhao’s Errenzhuan troupe gave a record-breaking 2,127 performances and earned over 96 million Yuan, ranking first among all performance groups in China.

Although Zhao has not yet realized his dream of performing Errenzhuan during the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, Xiao Shenyang’s recent debut was still an important step for both Zhao and Errenzhuan. Xiao, one of Zhao Benshan’s apprentices, received deafening applause after performing his skit Enough Money during the 2009 CCTV Spring Festival Gala.

Xiao Shenyang emphasized that “It is really like a dream for an Errenzhuan performer to get on the stage of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala.”