Errenzhuan

Errenzhuan is performed by a male-female pair (sometimes one performer playing both roles) who alternate between song, dialogue, and dance. Tempos run fast, melodic range is wide, modulations come frequently, and the vocal style is closer to shouting than projecting. Accompaniment uses yangqin (hammered dulcimer), erhu (two-string fiddle), sanxian (three-string lute), with large cymbals (tongbo) marking comic punctuation. Performers use fans, silk handkerchiefs, and folded paper as props, integrating sleight-of-hand with choreography. Improvised local-language commentary often involves the live audience directly.

Errenzhuan grew from older village entertainments in northeast China (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang) — yangge and lianhualao — during the late Qing dynasty. It was rural off-season entertainment, traveled by itinerant troupes. After 1949 it was professionalized, and after the 1980s reform era it spread nationally through television and cassettes. The comedian Zhao Benshan brought it to nationwide fame through his 1990 appearance on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala.

On Zhao Benshan's 'Xiao Bainian' (Little New Year's Greetings, 1990), notice how dialogue and singing collapse together — the boundary between speaking and singing dissolves. Video is much richer than audio alone because the prop work and physical comedy are integral.

YouTube clips of Zhao Benshan's Spring Festival Gala performances provide accessible entries. Even without Mandarin, comic timing comes through.

Errenzhuan was long stigmatized as crude or vulgar in mainstream Chinese cultural discourse. Zhao Benshan's commercial success rehabilitated it, and he subsequently built theatre chains ('Liu Laogen Da Wutai') across China dedicated to the form.