29 Facts About Zhao Benshan

Zhao Benshan is a Chinese skit and sitcom actor, comedian, television director, and businessman.

Originally from Liaoning province, Zhao has appeared on the CCTV New Year's Gala, a widely watched performing arts program, every year from 1990 to 2011.

Zhao Benshan is known for his lead roles in the 2000 Zhang Yimou film Happy Times and the 2007 film Getting Home, as well as having directed and produced three television series based around rural life in his home province, Liu Laogen, Ma Dashuai, and Xiangcun Aiqing.

Zhao Benshan was born in Lianhua Village, Kaiyuan, Liaoning province, to a peasant family.

Jiang Kun, a nationally renowned xiangsheng artist, recommend Zhao Benshan to appear at the 1990 CCTV New Year's Gala, a TV program broadcast all over China to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Zhao Benshan's skits focus on social issues, including wealth disparity, the urban-rural divide, family and relationships, trust in society, and social changes in the era of economic reform.

Zhao Benshan became a household name in China since he began appearing at the Gala.

Zhao Benshan's performances have generally received critical acclaim, earning the 'top-grade' prize for the "skits" category for thirteen years in a row between 1999 and 2011.

Zhao Benshan's skit was almost always one of the most anticipated and talked-about events of the Gala.

Zhao Benshan has appeared as an actor in many films, including Zhang Yimou's Happy Times where he played an aging bachelor who really wanted to get married.

Zhao Benshan was active in producing and directing several successful television series.

Zhao Benshan was nominated for the Best Actor Award for his performance in Getting Home at the 2007 Golden Horse Awards, held in Taipei on 8 December 2007.

Zhao Benshan did not win, losing to Tony Leung for his work in Lust, Caution.

Zhao Benshan took part in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay by being a torchbearer in the Liaoning leg of the relay in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province.

In 2009, Zhao Benshan was studying in the 4th intake CEO class at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.

In September 2009, Zhao Benshan was in the news again following a cerebral aneurysm rupture.

Zhao Benshan was said to be in a stable condition after an operation, although close associates have mentioned that he often felt unwell in recent years when he is exhausted on the set.

Zhao Benshan has not performed at the CCTV New Year's Gala since 2012, which has led to public speculation about his health and his conflict with 2012 gala director Ha Wen.

Since mid-2014, Zhao Benshan has been dogged by rumours circulating on the internet about his possibly having been implicated in the anti-corruption campaign of Xi Jinping and Wang Qishan.

Zhao Benshan is an entrepreneur and has led many business ventures.

In 2004, Zhao Benshan co-founded the Benshan Art Academy at Liaoning University, to nurture new Errenzhuan players.

In 2007, Zhao Benshan led his performing troupe to tour North America.

Zhao Benshan reportedly made a lump-sum child support and medical expenses payment to his ex-wife and left with the intent of a 'clean break'.

In 1992, Zhao Benshan married his second wife, Ma Lijuan, a Hui Chinese woman from Chifeng, Inner Mongolia.

On September 30,2009, it was reported Zhao Benshan had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was sent to hospital in Shanghai.

In December 2009, Zhao Benshan purchased a Bombardier Challenger 850 at a cost of 200 million yuan.

Zhao Benshan later stated that he was thinking of replacing the Challenger 850 with a newer Boeing or Gulfstream jet.

In 2014, Zhao Benshan was omitted from the guest list for a Liaoning arts conference and the Communist Party Central Committee's own exclusive arts conference in Beijing hosted by General Secretary Xi Jinping to "promote Chinese values".

Chinese-language media has linked Zhao Benshan with disgraced politicians Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun, both of whom spent a large part of their careers in Zhao Benshan's home province, Liaoning.