Hou Baolin

Hou Baolin, a Manchu, was born in Tianjin in 1917 and taken to Beijing to be raised at four. He studied Peking opera with Yan Zefu from 1929, began performing xiangsheng in 1933, became a disciple of Zhu Kuoquan in 1938 and from 1940 performed paired xiangsheng with Guo Qiru, forming the Hou school. His pieces include Changing Trades, Guan Gong Fights Qin Qiong, Drama and Dialects and A Night Walk; he published a selection of his routines and helped write The Origins of Xiangsheng and An Introduction to Quyi, and taught part-time at Peking University and elsewhere. He died in Beijing on 4 February 1993.