"Guo Degang Phenomenon"

From the third to the eighth day of the first month in China's lunar calendar in the year of the dog (January 31 to February 5, 2006), people from Tianjin Municipality and Hebei and Shanxi provinces as well as every corner in Beijing flocked to the Guangde Lou teahouse inside Beijing's Qianmen Gate - just to enjoy the New Year Show of the Deyun group, a batch of artists dedicated to the time-honored art form of xiangsheng (comic dialogue). Before the performance, the ticket prices were three times higher in the hands of scalpers - rare for a traditional art form performance in recent years.

Even after the performance began at 7PM, many fans were still lingering outside the small theatre.

"So are the tickets for standing room available? If not, are any tickets for hanging room available? Because one nail could hang two guys," joked a spectator waiting outside the theater.

At the very moment, the atmosphere in the theater was rather raucous. The performers on the stage personified hilarity, causing the audience to split its pants in laughter.

"This is more than just a xiangsheng performance, but rather like a Spring Festival Party," said a young man, no older than 25.

It has just been this winter that Guo Degang has become a new household name in China, quite on a par with Zhang Yimou, Gong Li, and Zhang Ziyi. Off the screen, however, Guo has risen to popularity by word of mouth in teahouses, such as Beijing's Tianqiao Le and Guangde Lou, where he gives live performances of xiangsheng, a traditional Chinese comic talk show.

It has become a fashion among a lot of young people to go to the teahouse to enjoy to Guo's xiangsheng. What's more, mass media, whether TV, newspaper, or radio, have spared no effort in reporting about Guo. Websites about Guo also abound. People pay to listen to his comic dialogues because he and his colleagues make people relaxed, according to Guo. Today, his fans have to book tickets a few weeks in advance.

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