Ma Sanli, born in Beijing in 1914, came from a well-known family of Quyi artists of the Hui ethnic group. He grew up in Tianjin, and got his schooling there. At the age of 15, he started to study Xiangsheng under Zhou Deshan, and has performed with Geng Baolin, Hou Yichen and Zhang Qingsen. After the founding of new China, he joined the Tianjin Quyi Troupe. Ma Sanli is a very famous contemporary Xiangsheng performing artist, and is good at both cross-talk and solo comic dialogue. Ma Sanli's solo comic dialogues are unique in that they always have a social meaning.

Master Performers of Xiangsheng

For instance, Make Fun of You tells that a mother asks his child to guard the clothing being dried in the sun from being stolen. A thief secretly enters the house and tells the child that he is called Make Fun of You. Seeing the thief, the child asks his mum for help. When she asks who is stealing, the child answers, Make fun of you! The story is interesting, but reflects the lamentable fact that some people take advantage of naivete.

Another example is Patrimonial Secret Recipe, in which a person is caught with chaff in purchasing a pack of medicine for itching. When he opens the layers of package, he just see two characters that mean scratch the itch. Nearly all solo comic dialogues performed by Ma Sanli underline profound meanings through small stories.

Ma Sanli's performances are full of the feelings of ordinary people. In both cross-talk comic dialogue and solo comic dialogue his performing style is to use mild but popular language. Although he belongs to a style of cool-headed humor, actually he is full of warm heartedness. Therefore, he enjoys the reputation of being an artist of the ordinary people.