Zhao Benshan (; born 2 October 1957) 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's performances at the gala had made him a household name in China. Zhao is also 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 ("Rural Love Story"). Biography Zhao was born in Lianhua Village, Kaiyuan, Liaoning province, to a peasant family. He was orphaned at the age of 6. Apprenticed to his uncle, he learned many local traditional performance arts, including erhu, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, and Errenzhuan, a traditional style of stand-up comedy that involves two people talking to each other on the stage which is popular in northeastern China. Jiang Kun, a nationally renowned xiangsheng artist, recommend Zhao to appear at the 1990 CCTV New Year's Gala, a TV program broadcast all over China to celebrate Chinese New Year. After his first appearance, he had appeared in each Gala show every year from 1995 to 2011. Zhao's skits focus on social issues, including wealth disparity, the urban-rural divide, family and relationships (guanxi), trust in society, and social changes in the era of economic reform. His works often drew inspiration from his own life in rural northeastern China. Zhao's most memorable performances have included "Yesterday, today and tomorrow" and "Fixing up the house" with Song Dandan, "Bainian" with Fan Wei and Gao Xiumin, a reprisal of "Yesterday, today, and tomorrow" with Song Dandan and Cui Yongyuan in 2006, and "Don't need money" in 2009 with Bi Fujian and Xiaoshenyang. Zhao became a household name in China since he began appearing at the Gala. His 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's skit was almost always one of the most anticipated and talked-about events of the Gala. Zhao has appeared as an actor in many films, including Zhang Yimou's Happy Times (2000) where he played an aging bachelor who really wanted to get married. Zhao was also active in producing