Cui Xiuqin, a 46-year-old woman cycled straight to the China-Japan Friendship Hospital of Beijing on hearing the news on TV at midday yesterday.

She had just learnt that Ma Ji, 72, one of the most famous performers of xiangsheng, or comic cross-talk, had died yesterday morning of heart disease.

She did not know what she would see at the hospital, but wanted to pay her respects to her favourite artist.

"This is the biggest news today," said Cui. "I have been listening to Ma's xiangsheng for decades. The news came as such a shock, I feel so sad."

At 9:39 am yesterday, the Beijing Emergency Medical Centre received a call saying that Ma was having a heart attack. When the team arrived at Ma's home in northern Beijing, the performer was found slumped on the toilet in a critical condition.

Within 10 minutes, the emergency team had got Ma to the Tiantongyuan Branch of the Chinese Medicine Hospital of Changping District. But by 10 pm, Ma was dead. The cause of death was a heart attack. At around 11:30 am, Ma's body was taken to the China-Japan Friendship Hospital.

Famous xiangsheng performer Jiang Kun, one of Ma's students, carried his body off the ambulance and into the hospital. With tears in his eyes, he described how the speed at which Ma's death was reported, reflected his place in people's hearts.

Other xiangsheng performers, including Yang Shaohua and Meng Fangui also turned up at the hospital to discuss plans for Ma's funeral.

On the Internet, numerous netizens penned messages to express their sadness at Ma's passing.

"Ma condemned evil and praised the moral in a light-hearted and pleasant way. That's why I liked his xiangsheng," said a netizen called Yan Zhi on the website www.xiangsheng.org.

Ma was a student of the late xiangsheng master Hou Baolin (1917-93). He not only inherited Hou's character, but also developed his own style. Ma was known for his performances of xiangsheng that referred to modern day China, and he became a key figure in the development of xiangsheng after the founding of New China.

He started his career in the 1950s, when xiangsheng was one of the few forms of entertainment sanctioned for the public. In those days it was common for whole families to sit around a radio to listen to and laugh at xiangsheng performances. Ma's image and signature jokes became etched in the minds of the nation when TV became popular with Chinese households. Ma was host of the most watched Spring Festival TV programme on CCTV for three years.

According to a survey by Sina, his most popular xiangsheng work was "Five Sense Organs Contending for Merits"(Wuguan Zhenggong). In this xiangsheng performed by six people, Ma as the head was grilled by five men playing the five sense organs for not giving them due merit. The fable-like work satirized people who chase fame.

In recent years, Ma devoted mostly to teaching xiangsheng and arranging xiangsheng works. As recently as early October he appeared at the third CCTV Xiangsheng Competition as a juror.

Ma was also a calligrapher. His calligraphy can be seen inscribed on the board of the "Weekend Xiangsheng Club" and "Deyun Society," two of the most popular xiangsheng venues in Beijing.

"The news of Ma's passing is unexpected and sad," said leader of "Deyun Society," well-known xiangsheng performer Guo Degang, who was in Tianjin when he heard the news. "I will go back to Beijing as soon as possible to take part in farewell activities for Ma."

(China Daily December 21, 2006)