Feng Gong

Feng Gong (simplified Chinese: 冯巩; traditional Chinese: 馮鞏; pinyin: Féng Gǒng; born 6 December 1957) is a Chinese actor, xiangsheng performer, director, screenwriter and politician. He is best known for his performances in the annual CCTV New Year's Gala, having made more appearances on the show than every other major performer. Feng Gong was born Feng Mingguang (冯明光) in Tianjin, China, on December 6, 1957, the son of Feng Haigang (冯海岗; 1920–1993), a local government official, and Liu Yisu (刘益素; born 1921), a daughter of an eminent family. His great-grandfather is Feng Guozhang, an early Republic-era warlord and the founder of the Zhili Clique, who once served as the President of the Republic of China between 1917 and 1918. He has an elder sister Feng Xingyun (冯幸耘; born 1947) and two elder brothers Feng Xin (冯信) and Feng Chuanshu (冯传书).

Feng graduated from Central China Normal University with a master's degree in Chinese Literature. In 1973, he performed a famous xiangsheng named Zunshi ai tudi (尊师爱徒弟) in Tianjin. Then he started to learn the arts of xiangsheng from the xiangsheng master Ma Ji. He also worked in a textiles machine factory. Feng was considered more talented than many other students of Ma Ji, and eventually emerged as a new star, performing progressively to bigger venues. Niu Qun (牛群) and Liu Wei (刘伟) were his partners when performing xiangsheng.

Feng appeared in the first CCTV New Year's Gala in 1986; he has appeared at almost every Chunwan performance for the next thirty years, variably in skits and xiangsheng. Feng is usually one of the first acts of the show; it is said he appears earlier in the program so that he can drive home to Tianjin to spend midnight on new year with his mother.

In 1988, he won the championship at the competition of xiangsheng performances in Dalian held by China Central Television.