Yang Shaohua

Yang was born in Beijing, China in 1931. His father died before he was born and his mother died when he was very young.[1] In 1944, he became a disciple of Guo Qirong (Chinese: 郭启荣), and began performing xiangsheng at Beijing Qiming Tea Club. After the establishment of the Communist State in 1951, he moved to Tianjin and worked at Daming Iron and Steel Factory. After the Cultural Revolution, he was transferred to Tianjin Opera Group. He began performing xiangsheng with Ma Zhiming (Chinese: 马志明), a renowned xiangsheng comedian, in 1970s. In 2018, Yang had appeared in the CCTV New Year's Gala show.[2]

Yang married Ouyang Sufen (Chinese: 欧阳素芬). The couple has five children, in order of birth: Yang Wei (Chinese: 杨威), Yang Jinming (Chinese: 杨进明), Yang Lun (Chinese: 杨伦), Yang Jian (Chinese: 杨健) and Yang Yi (Chinese: 杨议).[3]