: Yang Shaohua's mentorship relationship has always been controversial, some people believe that he is actually completely self-taught, however, according to the crosstalk genealogy compiled by Ma Sanli in the 80s of the last century, Yang Shaohua is included in it, and his mentorship relationship is clearly marked. Despite this, there is still a lot of controversy in the crosstalk community about Yang Shaohua's generation, and there are even rumors that Ma Zhiming once denied Yang Shaohua's mentorship relationship in public. So, why is Yang Shaohua's teacher inheritance controversial? Why did Ma Sanli approve but Ma Zhiming deny?
According to the crosstalk genealogy arranged by Ma Sanli, Yang Shaohua's mentorship relationship shows that he studied under Guo Rongqi, a famous crosstalk artist of the Shouzi generation, and Ma Delu, one of the eight virtues of Guo Rongqi's teacher inheritance crosstalk, is considered to be an orthodox Shouzi generation. In addition, before and after liberation, Guo Rongqi had already become famous, and some people even believed that in terms of acting talent alone, he was not inferior to Ma Sanli in the crosstalk industry. Guo Rongqi once performed at the Qiming Tea House in Beijing, and the owner of the tea house, Chang Lian'an, is not only the boss, but also Guo Rongqi's eldest brother. Because of this kinship, Yang Shaohua was able to meet Guo Rongqi. In Yang Shaohua's friendship circle, he was close to Chang Baoting, a comedian of the same age, and took this opportunity to meet Chang Lian'an. Chang Lian'an recognized Yang Shaohua's wit and introduced him to Guo Rongqi, hoping that Guo Rongqi would accept him as an apprentice.
At that time, Guo Rongqi was famous in the crosstalk world, not only had a well-founded teacher, but also had strong strength and high visibility. Worship requires the ritual of posing, and the worship requires the apprentice's money. However, Yang Shaohua's family was poor and could not afford the expenses needed to visit a teacher. The worship ceremony was put on hold indefinitely, and more importantly, Yang Shaohua did not put enough effort into learning crosstalk, which ran counter to Guo Rongqi's strict requirements. Guo Rongqi occasionally assigned Yang Shaohua the task of practice, but Yang Shaohua failed to complete it as required, and over time, Guo Rongqi no longer paid attention to Yang Shaohua, making Yang Shaohua's future in the crosstalk industry difficult.
In fact, the ritual of worshiping a teacher in the crosstalk world is not monolithic. Yang Shaohua and Guo Rongqi can actually be regarded as "oral alliance" masters and apprentices, but because there is no formal ceremony to worship the master, this master-apprentice relationship is not deep. After liberation, Yang Shaohua worked as a worker and then returned to crosstalk performances. Given that his family's financial situation was not ideal, he tried to find well-known comedians such as Ma Sanli and Hou Baolin in the hope of help. However, for the so-called master Guo Rongqi, Yang Shaohua has not fulfilled his duty as an apprentice, so Guo Rongqi has neither explicitly acknowledged nor explicitly denied this master-apprentice relationship. Guo Rongqi may have neither the interest nor the need to deny this, because the teacher does not know, does not teach performance skills, and lacks the feeling of mentoring and apprentice.
As for why Ma Sanli recognized Yang Shaohua's generation, there are some possible reasons. First of all, Ma Sanli has helped Yang Shaohua many times and provided a lot of support and opportunities. In addition, Ma Sanli did not have a good relationship with Guo Rongqi, and Ma Sanli was considered to have a political orientation because of his unique character, which led him to have an independent position. In this context, arranging the generation of Guo Rongqi's "junior brother" Yang Shaohua may raise suspicions.
Although Yang Shaohua's father, Ma Sanli, provided help, his son Ma Zhiming did not have a good relationship with Yang Shaohua. The two had partnered, but conflicts arose during the cooperation. Yang Shaohua is more limelight and exaggerated in his partner, which is inconsistent with the Ma's crosstalk that focuses on stability, and Yang Shaohua secretly cooperates with other actors, resulting in intensified conflicts. Ma Zhiming may also be reluctant to recognize Yang Shaohua's teacher inheritance due to his personal characteristics, in addition, Ma Zhiming has high requirements in the crosstalk industry, and is unwilling to arbitrarily admit apprentices who have not been taught or established a mentor-apprentice relationship, for example, for Lu Fulai and Yu Kezhi, who have already set up to worship the teacher, Ma Zhiming does not recognize them as his own apprentices. Therefore, it may be reasonable for Ma Zhiming not to admit that Yang Shaohua and Guo Rongqi have neither known to worship the teacher nor established the master-apprentice relationship.