A competition on short crosstalk is now going well in Beijing at Guo'an Theater, with 36 programs out of 3,000 competitors to be shown on local TV in the festive days of the coming New Year.

Well-known short crosstalk performer Jiang Kun, also chief of the jury committee for the competition, told reporters here Tuesday that the competition is being held for professional performers, non-professionals and overseas Chinese who love short crosstalk simultaneously. Apart from the professional prize given by the jury committee, the audience will also be invited to select their favorite performers.

The competition specially invited short crosstalk performers from Macao, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia where the short crosstalk, a Chinese traditional artistic form, has been widely spread and welcomed by the local Chinese community.

Jiang pointed out that most programs attending the competition were newly written, focusing on common people and daily life, therefore audience may have great fun in watching them.

The competition has been held two times and given rise to a dozen short crosstalk performers, who are now contributing new performing styles to the short crosstalk.

The short crosstalk, as a traditional form of comic dialogue, came into being in China's imperial Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) from the northern part of the country. The short crosstalk can be performed by a single person, two persons or even a group of people. In a no more than 10-minute performance, the performer will try its best to make fun or take advantage of the others by the skillful play of words, thus showing the audience their ingenious speech craft and the occult structure of the Chinese language.

(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2005)