Xiangsheng master Ma Ji

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, and he studied under Hou Baolin in his spare time. He now serves as an actor in the Central Broadcasting Recitation and Ballad Troupe.

Ma Ji (left) performing Xiangsheng with Tang Jiezhong

Ma Ji is one of the representative artists who emerged following the founding of new China, a noted Xiangsheng master and performer. He not only inherits and develops Xiangsheng of the Hou School (school of the master performer Hou Baolin) but also creates his own art style, which is followed by many successors. He contributes a lot to China's Xiangsheng art.

Ma Ji excels at performing new items reflecting real life. Apart from satire, he pioneers 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.