Arab cross-talk apprentice finds the right words to get a laugh, Alexis Hooi reports.

On a street in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, many pedestrians turned to the foreigner in surprise as he started speaking fluently and rapidly — he was practicing local Chinese tongue twisters, with each repetition getting louder and louder.

It was a common encounter with Musab Al Rudaisat, 30, an Arab apprentice of Chinese cross-talk or xiangsheng, the traditional comedic act that is performed as a dialogue between two performers or as a solo monologue.

Al Rudaisat grew up in Jordan and is a graduating medical PhD student at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. He came to China to pursue his studies in 2011 and has spent most of his time in the country since. Al Rudaisat has been one of the leading comedians at the city's Kailehui Cross-talk Club for the past five years.

The club performs traditional cross-talk comedy shows at multiple locations throughout the city; it recruits people from the younger generation, mostly comedians in their 30s, and has been dedicated to preserving, innovating and spreading the art and craft of Chinese cross-talk in southern provinces.

Xiangsheng can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and can comprise a lead speaker (dougen) who delivers punch lines and jokes and a supportive role (penggen) who reacts to the lead speaker's words. Unlike Western stand-up comedy, which often relies on disconnected one-liners and random stories, Chinese cross-talk presents a coherent, developing storyline with a beginning and end. It also incorporates linguistic devices such as puns, cultural references, dialect usage and other language-based humor, reflecting Chinese history and everyday life.

Motivated by his enthusiasm to understand Chinese culture and the language, Al Rudaisat watched countless Chinese reality shows to practice his Mandarin skills.

Journey to fluency

"My interest in learning Chinese began when I was still in Jordan," Al Rudaisat says. When he arrived in China for his studies, he soon began to practice his Chinese-speaking skills whenever he had the chance.

"Although I spent most of my weekdays in and around the hospital and medical school, I would try to speak and practice simple, mundane Chinese vocabulary everywhere, like in the supermarkets, on public transportation or inside my dorm room with my Chinese roommates," he says, adding that he acquired online dictionaries and listened to recordings to establish his linguistic intuition and learn Chinese dialect phrases.

"I feel like everyone can manage to speak understandable Chinese as long as they practice frequently," Al Rudaisat says. He says that sounding like locals is a major challenge, requiring "countless conversations and comprehension of the meanings of the same word in a variety of contexts".

He practiced Chinese everywhere — on the streets and on the shores of his campus lake. He says he was often so focused on practicing his Chinese pronunciations that he did not realize how loudly he spoke, and "people would look at me as if I was crazy".

Al Rudaisat laughed when recalling the time he first started learning the art of crosstalk. "It is very, very difficult to master Chinese, but my love of uncovering the dense and abundant cultural aspect of China is endless, and mastering the Chinese language has been the best gateway for me to achieve such a goal."

Deciding to improve his Chinese skills further and deepen his knowledge of Chinese culture, he joined the Kailehui Cross-talk Club in 2018. Al Rudaisat often practiced pronouncing vocabulary, short phrases and sentences before sending recordings to his Chinese partners and teachers to seek corrections and ideas for improvements, even very late at night.

"It was initially quite strange, and even kind of scary, waking up to five of Musab's voice messages at 3 am," Liu Zhendong, 36, Al Rudaisat's cross-talk partner, says, recalling the first few months after welcoming him into the cross-talk club.

"Musab is among the most hardworking apprentices I've had, among about 200 students I've interacted with. He would practice the pronunciations until midnight, and I would receive his WeChat messages around 2 or 3 am asking me to rate and correct them," says his master and teacher, Bo Kaiwen, 35.

"When the other masters said 'Musab is legit', those three words were all I needed to hear," Al Rudaisat says, recalling the exact moment that solidified his passion for becoming a cross-talk comedian.

"Mr Bo allowed me to perform in front of other respected masters of xiangsheng to see if I have the capabilities to be an independent comedian; they simply said those three words and that incident alone boosted my confidence so much that I think I will never stop practicing xiangsheng," he says.

"Initially, he could speak Mandarin quite fluently, but he lacked an understanding of Chinese humor and could not understand some puns or references we were making," Bo says, adding that as Al Rudaisat's master, he was deeply impressed by the hardworking student when they first met in 2018.

In line with traditional Chinese values that emphasize the close teacher-student and master-apprentice relationship to pass on their knowledge and skills fully, Bo recalls being strict with him on several occasions.

"I made him cry once because he was responsible for an error, which was honestly just a minor mistake in spelling when announcing the contents onstage; as soon as he got backstage, I lectured and criticized him," Bo says, expressing the belief that only by treating everyone in the cross-talk profession equally, regardless of appearance or background, can the students understand and meet the requisite skills and standards.

In the cross-talk club, Bo and Al Rudaisat are master and apprentice, but outside it, they are like family. During traditional festivals, such as Dragon Boat or Mid-Autumn, Bo always invites his apprentices to celebrate alongside his family. Considering the dietary needs of Al Rudaisat, who is Muslim, Bo also carefully selects and prepares traditional Chinese dishes that are halal for the student.

"Hard work always pays off, and now Musab is comfortable showing himself onstage," Bo says.

"Musab is a great comedian; he saved our comedy show once. Since then, it has changed the way he is perceived in our club," Liu says, describing how Al Rudaisat's calm and collected demeanor had prevented a "potentially disastrous outcome".

"I forgot my lines, and the entire audience sank into an awkward silence for a couple of seconds, but fortunately, Musab's solid fundamentals and flexibility in his understanding of cross-talk reignited the atmosphere," he says. "The audience didn't even notice my mistake."

From then on, Liu and the others in the cross-talk club no longer viewed Al Rudaisat as a "foreign practitioner"; instead, Liu says: "We removed the 'foreign' label and started viewing him just like every other fellow comedian here. As his partner, I hope he can continue to be a qualified Chinese cross-talk comedian, accepted and understood by all."

Looking abroad

Al Rudaisat's unwavering commitment and tireless efforts have not only propelled him to master the Chinese language but also opened doors to a profound exploration of Chinese culture through traditional Chinese cross-talk, his mentors and friends say.

A popular comedian representing his comedy club and nation in his life, interviews and documentaries, the remarkable journey is a testament to the power of his perseverance in overcoming language barriers and fostering cross-cultural understanding, they say.

"You will not understand a culture just by reading history books or watching movies about it. It will help if you have a context and a bunch of people around you to learn from and experience the culture, in order to appreciate and comprehend it fully," he says, adding that he is planning a trip back home, after pandemic travel restrictions have separated him and his family in Jordan for almost four years.

But he will certainly continue his cross-talk career, he says.

"I would love to keep performing in Jordan or China; I would also love to introduce xiangsheng to more Jordanians and Arabs, for them to learn xiangsheng and its theatrical, artistic aspects," Al Rudaisat says.

"He is going to make it happen, I am sure," Bo says.

There are a greater number of opportunities for China to promote healthier and deeper cultural exchanges with Arab nations, he says, and as China's economic development and technological prowess continue to have positive global impact, international ties, including those with Arab nations, will undoubtedly grow.

"I truly hope that with my efforts, more foreigners will be inspired and get to know Chinese culture through xiangsheng and use it as an interesting, humorous tool to uncover, research and fall in love with Chinese culture," Al Rudaisat says.

Chang Aohan and Luo Yilin contributed to this story.