Shenshen Cai is a senior lecturer with Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, teaching Chinese and Chinese culture related courses. She completed her PhD in contemporary Chinese culture studies with the School of Humanities at Griffith University and has a broad research interest in contemporary Chinese literature, film, theatre and folklore studies. Shenshen is the sole author of State Propaganda in China's Entertainment Industry (2016), Television Drama in Contemporary China: Political, Social and Cultural Phenomena (2016) and Contemporary Chinese Films and Celebrity Directors (Palgrave Macmillan 2017), and editor of Female Celebrities in Contemporary Chinese Society (Palgrave Macmillan 2019).Emily Dunn is a Sessional Lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. She is the author of Lightning from the East: Heterodoxy and Christianity in Contemporary China (Brill 2015). Her research articles have also appeared in the journals Modern China and East Asian History, among others. Emily received her PhD from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute. Her research interests include celebrity and religion in contemporary China.

• Chapter 1. Xiangsheng in the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1976.- Chapter 2. Xiangsheng 1976–2000.- Chapter 3. The revival of Xiangsheng in the new millennium.- Chapter 4. Guo Degang’s counter-official xiangsheng performance.- Chapter 5. Deyun Club holds up half the sky of xiangsheng performance.- Chapter 6. Guo Degang as a grassroots cultural hero.- Chapter 7. Concluding remarks.

Shenshen Cai is a senior lecturer with Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, teaching Chinese and Chinese culture related courses. She completed her PhD in contemporary Chinese culture studies with the School of Humanities at Griffith University and has a broad research interest in contemporary Chinese literature, film, theatre and folklore studies. Shenshen is the sole author of State Propaganda in China's Entertainment Industry (2016), Television Drama in Contemporary China: Political, Social and Cultural Phenomena (2016) and Contemporary Chinese Films and Celebrity Directors (Palgrave Macmillan 2017), and editor of Female Celebrities in Contemporary Chinese Society (Palgrave Macmillan 2019).Emily Dunn is a Sessional Lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. She is the author of Lightning from the East: Heterodoxy and Christianity in Contemporary China (Brill 2015). Her research articles have also appeared in the journals Modern China and East Asian History, among others. Emily received her PhD from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute. Her research interests include celebrity and religion in contemporary China.

• Chapter 1. Xiangsheng in the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1976.- Chapter 2. Xiangsheng 1976–2000.- Chapter 3. The revival of Xiangsheng in the new millennium.- Chapter 4. Guo Degang’s counter-official xiangsheng performance.- Chapter 5. Deyun Club holds up half the sky of xiangsheng performance.- Chapter 6. Guo Degang as a grassroots cultural hero.- Chapter 7. Concluding remarks.

Shenshen Cai is a senior lecturer with Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, teaching Chinese and Chinese culture related courses. She completed her PhD in contemporary Chinese culture studies with the School of Humanities at Griffith University and has a broad research interest in contemporary Chinese literature, film, theatre and folklore studies. Shenshen is the sole author of State Propaganda in China's Entertainment Industry (2016), Television Drama in Contemporary China: Political, Social and Cultural Phenomena (2016) and Contemporary Chinese Films and Celebrity Directors (Palgrave Macmillan 2017), and editor of Female Celebrities in Contemporary Chinese Society (Palgrave Macmillan 2019).Emily Dunn is a Sessional Lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. She is the author of Lightning from the East: Heterodoxy and Christianity in Contemporary China (Brill 2015). Her research articles have also appeared in the journals Modern China and East Asian History, among others. Emily received her PhD from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute. Her research interests include celebrity and religion in contemporary China.

• Chapter 1. Xiangsheng in the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1976.- Chapter 2. Xiangsheng 1976–2000.- Chapter 3. The revival of Xiangsheng in the new millennium.- Chapter 4. Guo Degang’s counter-official xiangsheng performance.- Chapter 5. Deyun Club holds up half the sky of xiangsheng performance.- Chapter 6. Guo Degang as a grassroots cultural hero.- Chapter 7. Concluding remarks.