Zhu Shaowen

Also known as Stage name Qiong Bupa

Zhu Shaowen, whose name is also written with a different middle character, performed under the stage name Qiong Bupa, "Not Afraid of Poverty". His family came from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and he lived outside the Di'anmen gate in Beijing. According to Lian Kuoru's Jianghu congtan and other accounts, he learned from Zhang Sanlu and performed crosstalk around Tianqiao in the Tongzhi and Guangxu reigns, counted among the Eight Eccentrics of Tianqiao. His line had the most disciples, among them Pin Youben, Fu Yougen, Xu Youlu and Fan Youyuan, and became the main branch of Beijing and Tianjin crosstalk; performers today regard him as the first generation of xiangsheng and call him the founding master.