Zhao Benshan has been a phenomenon of the Spring Festival Eve Gala of CCTV over the past two decades since he stormed into stardom overnight in 1990. For most of the legendary shows over the past 20 years， he has worked with other celebrated artists. In recent years， however， he has begun to bring his star pupils into his gala shows at CCTV. Xiao Shenyang， a young comedian， was a big success on the eve of Spring Festival 2009. In 2010， it was Wang Xiaoli， another of Zhao’s star pupils， who made it.

Riding on his national popularity and success， Zhao now runs a large showbiz business. Zhao Benshan has a large group of star comedians working in his showbiz group. All of them are talented actors deeply rooted in local rural entertainment traditions in northeastern China. He has produced a few very successful and influential television dramas. Many of his best comedians in these productions have endeared themselves to the national audience. But the Spring Festival Gala is another matter. The fame on this platform is totally different. Hundreds of millions of people watch it this evening of the year. Things that happen on this stage can buzz for days， months and even years in the media. Many dreams have come true on this stage. And many have failed to even make an appearance there.

“Donation”， this year’s Zhao Benshan comedy， is a story about two partners who fight in front of an interview crew after one partner finds the other has by mistake donated all his money to a widow who needs money to finance her son’s college education.

Wang Xiaoli acted as the angry partner whose money is mistakenly donated. His complaints are delivered in remarks so funny that the audience laughed.

The part Wang Xiaoli played in the comedy was a continuation of his part in “Village Romances”， a popular television drama produced by Zhao Benshan and three seasons have been screened. Wang Xiaoli stars in the drama as a village smartie， who loves to argue， has a lot of bad advices， and stammers occasionally. In the show Wang even wore his signature cotton-padded jacket which he wears in the television drama.

His wife watched the show from the backstage. She kissed Wang when he came backstage and asked anxiously if he had done it right. Zhao Benshan， who starred as another partner， praised Wang’s part. The three hugged for the success.

Career Path

Born in 1969 in a village in Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China， Wang Xiaoli comes from a family of rural entertainers. When the boy was 9 years old， his parents lost their jobs at a county troupe when it folded. They joined a private troupe and the kid was able to follow his parents on their road shows in rural areas. It was during these road shows， the junior began to show his talent in entertainment. To the surprise and delight of his parents， the boy toyed with suona (a trumpet-like folk musical instrument popular in rural China) for a day and managed to play a tune for the first time in his life.

From that day on， the boy began to learn and perform and grew up to be a good entertainer specialized in song-and-dance duet. In 1999， Wang Xiaoli partnered with Li Lin， a girl 11 years junior. The partnership was a showbiz success and the romance between the two bloomed. They got married in 2000. Shortly after their wedding， the couple signed a three-year performance contract with Peace Grand Theater in Changchun， the capital city of Jilin Province.

In early 2001， Bi Fujian， director and producer of Dream Theater， a popular program at CCTV， came to watch a show of song and dance duets performed by four couples. Wang Xiaoli and Li Lin were one of the four couples. Bi planned to produce one special session of the song-and-dance duet genre to the national audience. The husband and wife won a silver prize at the show. And at the year-end national final of the Dream Theater， the team won the gold medal.

The year 2002 was a turning point in the team’s career. The two won the third prize at a song-and-dance-duet competition hosted by Zhao Benshan. At the medal ceremony， Wang Xiaoli learned that Zhao Benshan was going to have a few apprentices. Wang saw it as an opportunity to learn directly from the famed comedian. Wang performed pretty well at the audition and Zhao Benshan was satisfied with Wang’s talents and potentialities.

Wang Xiaoli’s appearance in the three seasons of Village Romances made him a national figure and his appearance at CCTV Spring Festival gala in 2010 made him national fame. □