Ticket sales are booming for shows commemorating the late crosstalk master, Hou Yaowen, an official with a Beijing weekend crosstalk club has said.

Secretary of Beijing's Dongcheng District Weekend Crosstalk Club, Song Dequan said it usually takes three days to sell weekend crosstalk show tickets, but all sold in one day for the special crosstalk shows that have arranged for the weekend to commemorate crosstalk master Hou Yaowen, who died on June 23rd at the age of 59.

An extra show has to be added on Sunday to meet the hot public demand, Song said. The tribute shows will start Friday.

Among those due to perform at the three-day special tribute shows are famous crosstalk stars, Li Jindou, Chang Guitian and Tang Jiezhong.

Hou's senior fellow apprentices, Li Boxiang and Wei Wenhua will also perform, while Jiang Kun will deliver a speech.

Another of Hou Yaowen's apprentices, Jia Lun, will not attend as he wants to wait until August when another big commemorative show in honor of his late teacher will be held in the Beijing Minorities Cultural Palace Theatre.

Hou Yaowen, one of China's most popular crosstalk performers, died of heart disease last month. His memorial ceremony is expected to be held on July 7th at Beijing's Babaoshan Revolutionary Public Cemetery.

Beijing weekend crosstalk club was established voluntarily by cross talk artists in October 2003.

It is the most famous crosstalk club in China because of its cheap tickets and the chance to see lots of veteran cross talk artists who are frequent faces on TV.

(CRI.com July 7, 2007)