Yaoyaojiang: Frozen for a Decade: Why Xi Jinping Cannot Tolerate Zhao Benshan?

This video chronicles the complete journey of comedian Zhao Benshan, from founding Benshan Media and building a massive commercial and power empire, to his gradual fading from the national stage due to his involvement in high-level political turmoil and the tightening of literary and artistic ideology after Xi Jinping came to power. It also records the current situation, with his daughter announcing his complete retirement from the entertainment industry in 2026.

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In July 2026, Zhao Benshan's daughter, Qiuqiu, announced in a livestream that her father had completely retired from the entertainment industry. He would no longer accept commercial performances, participate in variety shows, attend public events, or perform sketches. Yet, just last year, a white-haired Zhao Benshan suddenly appeared on a stage in New York. A 5,000-seat theater was completely sold out; the audience gave him a standing ovation. The organizer's most expensive tickets sold for $500, and scalpers drove the front-row prices up to $1,400. Why is it that a man who can still fill overseas theaters to this day has never been able to return to the center stage in China? Many attribute the answer to Bo Xilai. But after Bo Xilai fell from power in 2012, Zhao Benshan did not disappear immediately; instead, he became the deputy director of the 2014 CCTV Spring Festival Gala. Zhao Benshan's real problem was not just betting on the wrong political patron, but that he turned an actor into a grassroots power center in Northeast China. Today, we will talk about how Zhao Benshan built his own Northeast kingdom, and how, after Xi Jinping came to power, he used a "freezing" approach to dismantle this kingdom layer by layer.

On February 11, 2008, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, a ceremony took place at the Benshan Media base that seems quite astonishing today: 35 Errenzhuan performers went on stage in batches, kneeling before Zhao Benshan and his wife Ma Lijuan to kowtow and offer tea, formally becoming his apprentices. Since most Errenzhuan performers work as husband-and-wife teams, the apprentices knelt down pair by pair. Zhao Benshan sat on the stage, drinking over thirty cups of tea in succession. After media photos were released, there was an uproar in the outside world. Some said this was the custom of traditional performing arts, while others said it did not look like taking on apprentices, but rather like the coronation ceremony of a cult leader, Master Benshan. Zhao Benshan responded that kneeling is a Chinese tradition and a sign of respect from apprentices to their master. He also said that he did not take on apprentices to have a group of people revolving around him all day, but to develop Errenzhuan. He was not wrong. However, after these 35 people knelt down, they gained far more than just the title of apprentice. Zhao Benshan was their master, but also their boss; he was an actor, a director, the head of Benshan Media, and the owner of all the Liu Laogen Grand Stages. Whether an apprentice could enter the company's key productions, whether they could get roles in Liu Laogen, Ma Dashuai, or Rural Love, and whether they could be brought onto the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, all ultimately required Zhao Benshan's support and favor. In the past, Errenzhuan performers drifted for years through towns, temple fairs, and small theaters in Northeast China, singing at one venue today and making a living at another tomorrow. After joining Zhao Benshan, an unprecedented upward channel appeared: first performing at the Liu Laogen Grand Stage, then entering Benshan Media's TV dramas. Once the TV dramas became hits, the actors gained national fame; audiences would then buy tickets to enter the Liu Laogen Grand Stage to see the people from the TV perform live. Xiao Shenyang originally sang Errenzhuan in small theaters in Jilin and Liaoning; after becoming an apprentice in 2006, Zhao Benshan brought him to CCTV. In the 2009 Spring Festival Gala, with the sketch 'Not Short of Money,' Xiao Shenyang became the most popular comedian in the country overnight. Song Xiaobao's experience was similar; he entered the Zhao troupe from a small theater in rural Jilin, first appearing on Liaoning Satellite TV, then collaborating with Zhao Benshan on a blind date sketch, and quickly became a national star. In 2012, Huang Shengyi, who had been famous for many years, suddenly knelt before Zhao Benshan at a public event to become his apprentice. She had a company, film resources, and no lack of fame behind her, yet she was still willing to perform this grand gesture in public. This is because in the Northern Chinese comedy market, what Zhao Benshan possessed was not just the popularity of an ordinary star, but a power structure capable of distributing opportunities. Other stars have fans; Zhao Benshan has disciples. Other bosses sign contracts with actors; Zhao Benshan makes actors call him master. But why did Zhao Benshan need so many apprentices? Because in the business system he built, apprentices were not people gathered around to create an atmosphere; they were the actors used in every theater every day, the characters that could be repeatedly called upon in TV dramas, and the foundation for Zhao Benshan to turn personal fame into long-term income. Behind a seemingly ancient apprenticeship ceremony was the organizational structure of a modern cultural company, only outside the company bylaws, there was a more direct rule: loyalty. Zhao Benshan knew very well that a flower does not bloom for a hundred days. An actor's fame comes quickly and goes quickly; only by turning fame into theaters, companies, and a group of people who cannot leave you, can it last. He was no stranger to this sense of insecurity.

Zhao Benshan was born in a rural area of Kaiyuan, Liaoning. His mother died when he was five years old, and his father later went far away, leaving him to live with his grandfather and relatives. How poor was he growing up? An old classmate recalled that Zhao Benshan once dug food out of field mouse holes to stave off hunger. When describing his own background, he once made a heavy remark: "My mother is dead and my father is far away, my life is worse than a dog's." The one who taught him how to make a living was his blind second uncle, Zhao Deming. The second uncle could play the erhu, suona, and sanxian, and could also sing Errenzhuan. Zhao Benshan followed along to learn, and his later lifelike portrayal of a blind person also stemmed from this period of his life. In 1982, Zhao Benshan became famous in the Northeast through his performance of the Errenzhuan sketch "Throwing the Sanxian." The opportunity that truly changed his destiny came from Jiang Kun. Jiang Kun noticed Zhao Benshan when performing in the Northeast and brought a recording of him back to Beijing to recommend him. Zhao Benshan tried several times to get on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala without success, until 1990, when he first appeared on the CCTV stage with the sketch "Blind Date." From then on, Chinese people's New Year's Eve began to feature a peasant with a northeastern accent, wearing old clothes, and looking a bit cunning. Zhao Benshan played ordinary people and spoke plain words, yet he could make audiences across the country wait for his appearance. The Spring Festival Gala gave Zhao Benshan nationwide fame, and he soon discovered that this fame could be exchanged for more than just performance fees. In 1993, he established the Benshan Art Development Corporation. In its early days, the company did advertising, as well as coal, transportation, and other businesses. At that time, Zhao Benshan did not yet have a clear cultural industry blueprint; he first solved the problem of capital, earning his first pot of gold through his fame as an actor, and then investing the money into businesses he could control. Around 2002, Zhao Benshan began running the Shenyang Big Stage, which he later renamed the Liu Laogen Stage. In 2003, the Liaoning Folk Art Troupe, the predecessor of Benshan Media, was established. From then on, Zhao Benshan no longer relied solely on personal performances to make money. He trained actors himself, packaged them himself, shot his own projects, and then monetized them through his own theaters. In 2008, the Liu Laogen Stage performed more than 2,000 shows a year, with revenues approaching 100 million yuan, ranking among the top performance groups in the country. By 2013, data released by Benshan Media showed that its eight theaters distributed in cities such as Beijing, Shenyang, Changchun, Harbin, Tianjin, and Tai'an had a total revenue of 250 million yuan. Liaoning University even cooperated with Zhao Benshan to establish the Benshan Art College. A rural child who had not even finished junior high school finally became an Errenzhuan professor and college dean at a university. Zhao Benshan also built a film and television base covering about 300 mu in the suburbs of Shenyang. Media estimates suggested that this base, which initially invested about 80 million yuan, later became worth more than 1 billion yuan. He planned cultural and tourism projects in Hainan, opened theaters in various places, and even briefly entered a football club. In 2010, a Canadian Bombardier Challenger executive jet landed in Shenyang. The plane was dubbed the "Benshan," and media reports priced it at about 200 million yuan. Zhao Benshan became one of the first stars in China to own a private jet. That was his most glorious time. However, the year before the plane was delivered, Zhao Benshan suddenly fell ill in Shanghai. Doctors diagnosed him with subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by a ruptured intracranial aneurysm. Waking up after surgery, he once asked people around him, "Did I act a bit too arrogant?" This sentence later became a foreshadowing of Zhao Benshan's ultimate fate. He was no longer the actor in a tattered cotton-padded jacket playing a poor peasant on the Spring Festival Gala. Disciples bowed to him on stage, theaters were spread across multiple cities, TV series were broadcast simultaneously on several satellite TV stations, local governments hung his name on universities, schools, and cultural projects, and his private jet could take him anywhere in the country at any time. Zhao Benshan was rich, but not just rich. In the Northeast, things that could be solved with money he could certainly solve; and for many things that could not be solved with money, people began to believe that he could solve them. Thus, a saying spread in the entertainment industry: "Crossing Shanhai Pass, if you have trouble, find Benshan."

Inside Zhao Benshan's film and television base, there is a floor that is rarely open to the public. According to reporters who investigated on-site at the time, this floor was luxuriously decorated and mainly used to host important guests. Hanging on the walls of the hall were not Zhao Benshan's stage photos, but rather photos of him with various high-ranking officials. Anyone who was able to walk into this place knew what these photos represented without needing anyone to explain. The most eye-catching one was a photo of Bo Xilai holding Zhao Benshan's twin children. Photos of Zhou Yongkang, Wang Lijun, and others had also appeared on the walls. After Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun fell from grace, these photos successively disappeared from the walls. When they were hanging on the walls, they were political capital that Zhao Benshan displayed to his guests; after the political winds changed, they became a political risk that needed to be cleaned up as quickly as possible.

Zhao Benshan's interactions with Bo Xilai began to attract attention very early on. Bo Xilai served as the top official in Dalian in the 1990s, became governor of Liaoning province in 2001, and was transferred to Beijing in 2004. It was precisely during the few years Bo Xilai ruled Liaoning that Zhao Benshan rapidly transformed from a nationally renowned actor into a cultural entrepreneur. Local governments treated Zhao Benshan as Liaoning's cultural business card. Zhao Benshan also needed the government to provide theaters, land, television stations, schools, and tourism projects. Benshan Media was later rated as a cultural industry demonstration base by the Ministry of Culture and consecutively entered the top thirty national cultural enterprises. This business empire never grew outside of politics, but rather expanded with the help of political resources.

Wang Lijun was another relationship line with a stronger northeastern underworld flavor. Wang Lijun started out at the Tiefa Public Security Bureau, later served as the police chief of the Tieling Public Security Bureau, and then went to Jinzhou and Chongqing. Zhao Benshan's stronghold was also in Tieling. The two had public photos together, and after Wang Lijun was transferred to Chongqing, Zhao Benshan and his disciples still shared the frame with him.

In China, it is not uncommon for actors to know officials. What is truly rare is that the political figures, business partners, disciples, and local resources around Zhao Benshan gradually converged into a network centered around him. Local officials needed Zhao Benshan. He could bring investments, tourism, and urban visibility, and could also quickly assemble a group of national stars on important occasions. Businessmen also needed Zhao Benshan because he not only had an audience, but also had pathways into local officialdom. Actors needed Zhao Benshan even more because he could decide who could be recognized by national audiences overnight.

Therefore, "having matters, find Benshan" was not just an ordinary compliment. It conveyed a social perception that once you cross Shanhaiguan, in the Northeast, Zhao Benshan's words carried weight.

In those years, the most astonishing political rumor surrounding Zhao Benshan was that if Bo Xilai entered the highest echelons of power, he planned to appoint Zhao Benshan as Minister of Culture. This claim circulated widely in the overseas Chinese-language circle. The reason people believed it was not because Zhao Benshan had publicly expressed a desire to enter politics, but because the Zhao Benshan of that time already looked very much like a folk Minister of Culture who did not need central appointment. This had already exceeded the social position usually possessed by an actor.

Zhao Benshan's works never opposed the Communist Party. He understood very early on what could be said and what could not be said, and always kept satire within the boundaries permitted by the system.

In the 1995 Spring Festival Gala, the sketch Uncle Niu Gets a Promotion was about Uncle Niu trying to get a permit from the township head to visit Manager Ma of a township enterprise in order to install glass for the village primary school, only to stumble upon a banquet paid for with public funds. But this was already the censored version. Scriptwriter Cui Kai later recalled that Zhao An, the chief director of the 1995 Spring Festival Gala, had originally asked him to write a sketch criticizing leading cadres for wining and dining with public funds. The original story took place in a township government, and the person Uncle Niu wanted to find was the township head. The rehearsal effect was very good, but it failed censorship. A leader thought it was inappropriate to criticize the township cadres during the New Year, so with a stroke of a pen, he demanded that the township head be changed to a township enterprise manager. In the revised finished film, the township head retreated behind the scenes, leaving only a permit slip. Uncle Niu arrived at the enterprise, and Secretary Hu, played by Fan Wei, was busy arranging wine and dishes like soft-shelled turtle, while the school glass that truly needed to be resolved was never asked about by anyone. In the end, Uncle Niu plucked an egg from the soft-shelled turtle, satirizing that he failed to install glass for the village primary school, but learned how to talk nonsense here.

Someone later summarized that Zhao Benshan's satire of the powerful and elite stopped at most at the township head. Zhao Benshan certainly knew that the township head was not the end of power; he knew even better that satire on stage could only go this far. He could play grassroots cadres who were gluttonous, lied, and cared about face, but he would not question who endowed these cadres with power. He made the audience laugh at reality without letting the laughter cross the boundaries allowed by the system.

Zhao Benshan's ability to remain popular on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for more than twenty years relied not only on his comedic talent, but also on an almost instinctive judgment of the political climate.

In 2012, this judgment faced a huge test. Wang Lijun entered the US Consulate General in Chengdu, and the Chongqing political earthquake erupted. Bo Xilai was dismissed from office, investigated, and ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment. Various claims surrounding Zhao Benshan, Bo Xilai, and Wang Lijun quickly poured out. In the eyes of many people, Zhao Benshan's fate was sealed. He had backed the wrong person, his backer had fallen, and he was bound to face liquidation next.

However, two years later, not only did Zhao Benshan not fall, but he instead took a seat in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala directing team.

In 2012, when Xi Jinping came to power, Zhao Benshan did not appear on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. The official reasons given were health and program-related issues. In 2013, he publicly announced his retirement from the sketch comedy stage. This timing coincided with the Bo Xilai case, providing a seemingly complete explanation for all subsequent bans on Zhao Benshan: with Bo Xilai's downfall, Zhao Benshan lost his place on the Spring Festival Gala. However, in July 2013, CCTV invited Feng Xiaogang to serve as the chief director for the 2014 Spring Festival Gala, while also asking Zhao Benshan to serve as deputy chief director and head of language programs. Although Zhao Benshan did not perform in any sketches himself, he began reviewing the sketches of others. He transitioned from a performer on the Spring Festival Gala to a member of the directing team that determined the content of the gala's language programs. At the time, he said in an interview that he had come from this stage, was recognized by the common people, and trusted by the leadership; if he did not step up, he would be letting everyone down. The phrase "trusted by the leadership" is very important. If Bo Xilai's downfall in 2012 had already sealed Zhao Benshan's fate, it would have been impossible for CCTV to entrust him with the language programs for the next Spring Festival Gala in 2013. The Bo Xilai case certainly caused Zhao Benshan to lose his patron and turned the political connections he had cultivated into dangerous assets, but that was not the final blow. Zhao Benshan even managed a narrow escape at one point. He quickly distanced himself from the disgraced officials, continued to participate in political activities, and did not publicly express any dissatisfaction. By the beginning of 2014, he still stood at the center of Chinese literary and artistic power. The real turning point occurred a few months later.

On September 22, 2014, Zhejiang Television was originally scheduled to broadcast a TV series titled Parents Full of House. Directed by Kan Weiping, it starred a large number of Zhao Benshan’s acting troupe members, including Zhao Benshan, Xiaoshenyang, Song Xiaobao, and Wang Xiaoli. The plot was not complex, focusing on rural left-behind elderly parents and how their children re-assumed the responsibility of providing for their elderly parents. According to past experience, this was precisely the rural theme that Benshan Media was most familiar with and considered the safest. However, just one day before the broadcast, the TV station suddenly suspended it. The head of the TV station's drama promotion department later told reporters that they had temporarily received instructions from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television to halt the broadcast due to thematic issues, and the station was placed in a very passive position. Parents Full of House thus vanished from the schedule. Less than two months before this suspension, on July 29, 2014, the CCP Central Committee officially announced an investigation into Zhou Yongkang. The political network behind Bo Xilai had already collapsed, and Zhou Yongkang's faction was openly exposed. The connections that Zhao Benshan had previously hung on his wall to show off to guests had now all become liabilities. However, relying solely on Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang still could not explain everything that happened to Zhao Benshan next. Because while purging political connections, Xi Jinping was also pulling the decision-making power in the literary and artistic fields back to the center, initiating a Xi Jinping-style transformation of the cultural sphere. As early as August 19, 2013, Xi Jinping stated at the National Propaganda and Ideological Work Conference that ideological work is an extremely important task of the party. He demanded that propaganda and ideological departments take responsibility for their turf, ensure it is defended, and fulfill their duties. This speech first drew new responsibilities for the propaganda system; whoever allowed voices not meeting central requirements to appear on their turf would be held responsible. Four months later, in December 2013, the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform was established, with Xi Jinping personally serving as the group leader. On February 28, 2014, Xi Jinping chaired the second meeting of the reform leading group, reviewing and passing the implementation plan for deepening the reform of the cultural system. On March 24, the public heads of the special group for cultural system reform under the reform group were announced, with Liu Qibao, Minister of the Publicity Department of the CCP Central Committee, serving as group leader, and Vice Premier Liu Yandong as deputy group leader. Xi Jinping set the direction at the highest level, while Liu Qibao, Liu Yandong, and the propaganda and cultural departments were responsible for downward execution, quietly launching a covert new-age cultural revolution. When party media explained how the leading group operated, they stated very bluntly that such a group neither enters the party's organizational directory nor hangs an institutional sign, yet its office can coordinate the work under its jurisdiction through meetings and documents. This is the familiar working method of the CCP. The publicly listed Ministry of Culture, State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and local literary federations were all at the front stage, but the true direction was decided by the intra-party group. On October 15, 2014, this approach of central direction and departmental execution specifically fell upon writers, actors, and literary and artistic institutions. Xi Jinping personally convened a symposium on literary and art work at the Great Hall of the People, pointing the direction for the entire literary and art community. Party media disclosed at the time that this meeting was personally proposed by Xi Jinping and prepared for over half a year. Attendee Tan Lihua recalled that from the first sentence of the meeting to the last, General Secretary Xi personally presided over it. Both the name and language of the meeting evoked Mao Zedong's Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art from 72 years prior. Xi Jinping once again quoted Mao Zedong's words at the meeting: the question of whom to serve is a fundamental and principled question. He demanded that literature and art adhere to serving the people and serving socialism. These concepts were not invented by Xi Jinping. The real change was that he wanted to re-impose the political standards of the Mao Zedong era onto a literary and art field that had already become market-oriented and commercialized. Xi Jinping stated at the meeting that literature and art must not lose direction in the tide of the market economy, nor become slaves to the market. He said that vulgarity does not equal popularity, desire does not represent hope, and pure sensory entertainment does not equal spiritual happiness. When economic and social benefits conflict, economic benefits must submit to social benefits, and market value must submit to social value. These remarks struck almost item by item at the foundations of Zhao Benshan’s success. Zhao Benshan's Errenzhuan originates from the folk culture of Northeast China. Its vitality depended on whether the audience loved watching it and was willing to buy tickets. The Errenzhuan in small theaters was rougher, and vulgar jokes, sexual hints, and making punchlines out of disabled people and the poor had long been reasons for critics to attack Zhao Benshan. Zhao Benshan's past answer was very simple: the audience liked it. The theaters were packed every day, and TV series had high ratings, showing that ordinary people needed this kind of joy. Yet Xi Jinping now clearly announced that the market could not determine the direction of literature and art. Box office, ratings, and audience laughter all had to come after the social benefits prescribed by the party. There were two other passages in the speech that were even more direct toward Zhao Benshan. Xi Jinping specially mentioned that private cultural studios, private cultural brokerage agencies, online literature and art communities, as well as independent actors and singers, were becoming increasingly active. The party must expand its work coverage, extend its reach, and unite, attract, and guide them. Benshan Media almost completely matched this list. In the past, this organization listened to Zhao Benshan.

Now, the Party wants to reach in. Xi Jinping subsequently demanded that propaganda and cultural departments uphold their responsibilities and never provide dissemination channels for harmful literary and artistic works. This sentence is the key to understanding Zhao Benshan's later predicament. Once the central authorities control the dissemination channels, this hand does not need to appear in the form of public orders. As for how it falls, we will see later. Whether Zhao Benshan has met with Xi Jinping is not important. In the system of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the top leader is responsible for redefining what constitutes people's literature and art, and which works can obtain dissemination channels; television stations, local officials, and cultural institutions will follow this set of standards to judge who should be invited in the future and who should not. A total of 72 literary and art workers were invited to this symposium. Zhao Benshan did not receive an invitation. Near the end of the meeting, Xi Jinping suddenly asked, I heard there are two internet writers here today, which two are they? Zhou Xiaoping and Hua Qianfang stood up immediately. Xi Jinping encouraged them to create more positive energy works. Zhao Benshan, who had made Chinese people laugh for over twenty years, was not on the list, while two internet writers who were reviled by thousands for praising China's rise were named on the spot by the top leader. Who is the representative of literature and art needed in the new era? The answer has been described very clearly in the reports of this meeting. On October 22, Liaoning Province held a symposium on literary and artistic work to study Xi Jinping's speech, and Zhao Benshan did not appear again. A staff member from the Organization and Liaison Department of the Liaoning Federation of Literary and Art Circles later confirmed to reporters that they indeed did not invite Zhao Benshan. When the reporter pressed for the reason, he only said seven words: "It was arranged from above." On October 29, Tieling City held a similar meeting. This person who walked out of Tieling and almost became the city's calling card was still not on the list of attendees. Central, provincial, and municipal—three literary and art symposiums, and Zhao Benshan was consecutively not invited. In Chinese politics, sometimes who is not invited is more important than who is invited. Zhao Benshan knew that this was no longer an oversight by the organizers of meetings at various levels. He had to react immediately.

When the Central Forum on Literature and Art was held, Zhao Benshan was in Tieling shooting Country Love 8. On October 19, he rushed back to Shenyang from the set. Benshan Media notified major actors who were away to return as soon as possible. That evening, the company held a meeting for performing arts staff to collectively study the spirit of Xi Jinping's speech. Apprentices who had previously knelt before Zhao Benshan to become his disciples now sat down with their master to study the direction of literature and art just determined by Xi Jinping. Zhao Benshan spoke for about forty minutes. He said, I have repeatedly and carefully read General Secretary Xi's speech many times. I am very moved, very excited, and even unable to sleep at night. He also said that we have encountered an era with dreams, an era of positive energy. The spring of literature and art has truly arrived. He requested Benshan Media to resist vulgarity, adhere to social benefits, and create green Errenzhuan. Zhao Benshan's slow-dawning survival instinct received a positive response. The next day, People’s Daily WeChat pushed a commentary from Global Times, with the title, Zhao Benshan is too excited to sleep, and that is right! The article said that Zhao Benshan's reaction this time has very necessary political correctness, and the commitments he made will also await public opinion inspection. This was equivalent to the party media giving a reply to Zhao Benshan: your statement has been received, but whether you pass or not will still need to be observed, with future performance pending. Zhao Benshan did not stop at just making a statement. Right after this meeting, a reporter walked into the Shenyang Liu Laogen Stage. When the two-hour performance ended, a male audience member suddenly asked a friend who brought him to watch the show, why didn't I see Errenzhuan? The friend told him that there was actually a small section in the middle of the last sketch, but it was so short that he didn't notice it. Then he added, he changed all of it. It wasn't like this before. If we had come a week earlier, there would have been at least one or two Errenzhuan programs on stage. Now only singing, dancing, acrobatics, and sketches remain, with only a very short section of Errenzhuan left. After hearing the wind direction from Beijing, Zhao Benshan first carried out a self-revolution on his most core stage. He subsequently accepted an interview and summarized his attitude into two sentences: first, listen to the party's words. Second, listen to the common people's words. The order has changed. Zhao Benshan's greatest confidence in the past was that the common people loved to watch. Facing criticism, he could answer with ratings and theater box office. Now, he voluntarily put listening to the party's words before listening to the common people's words. Because he already understood that having audiences alone was no longer enough to protect himself. Zhao Benshan also publicly stated that as long as the country needs it, his private jet can also be contributed. He frequently emphasized public welfare, positive energy, and social responsibility. On the stage background of the Liu Laogen Stage, huge-sized core socialist values began to appear. At the same time, the equity structure of Benshan Media also changed. In November 2014, Benshan Holdings Co., Ltd. was established. Less than a month later, Benshan Media completed a shareholder change, with Benshan Holdings holding 60%, and Zhao Benshan and his wife Ma Lijuan holding 19.6% and 20.4% respectively. Benshan Holdings itself is still jointly owned by Zhao Benshan and his wife. Control did not truly leave the Zhao family, but Zhao Benshan himself no longer directly stood at the forefront as the company's largest shareholder. Public statements in politics, immediate program changes in theaters, and the rearrangement of equity in business all happened during the same period. Zhao Benshan's reaction protected his personal freedom, wealth, and company. Apprentices can still perform, and Country Love can also continue filming. However, Beijing did not return his original position to him because of his statement of loyalty.

Afterward, Zhao Benshan's exit did not happen suddenly; it felt more like a political progressive freezing. Medical ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is the gradual damage of motor neurons that control muscles. Patients often remain clear-headed, yet their physical mobility disappears one item after another. What Zhao Benshan experienced was much the same: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not openly announce a ban on him, but merely gradually closed the channels through which he reached the national stage. The first thing lost was satellite television dramas. In previous seasons, Country Love could simultaneously air on multiple satellite TV stations such as Jiangsu, Tianjin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning, serving as a major viewership drama around the Spring Festival. After the completion of Country Love 8, however, no TV station announced it would take over the broadcast slot. It wasn't until December 2015 that it was renamed Country Love Romance and premiered exclusively on Tencent Video. From multiple satellite channels giving Zhao Benshan massive entry into national living rooms to retreating to video websites to wait for viewers to actively search, what Zhao Benshan lost was not just a TV drama, but the ability to cover ordinary families nationwide. Next came variety shows. In August 2014, a reality show titled Dream Maker held a press conference, announcing that Zhao Benshan, Jiang Wen, and others would serve as mentors. A few months later, Zhao Benshan's position was replaced by Hong Huang. Liaoning Satellite TV programs closely tied to the Zhao troupe, such as Benshan Chooses Who Goes to the Spring Festival Gala and New Xiaolin, also successively ceased broadcasting. Next came the theaters. The Liulaogen Stage in Qianmen, Beijing, quietly suspended operations. In Shenyang, sources from official circles were also dwindling. In the past, when local officials hosted out-of-town guests and went to the Liulaogen Stage in the evening to watch Errentai, it used to be a regular arrangement. After the Central Government's Eight-point Regulation, a local government staff member told reporters that hosting duties had decreased and dining had become low-profile—who would still dare to go? Zhao Benshan's commercial system remained, but the sources of guests brought by TV stations, variety shows, theaters, and local official circles had decreased one by one. In January 2015, rumors spread online that the State Administration of Radio, Television (SARFT) had requested video websites to remove Zhao Benshan's works. SARFT quickly denied this, stating that it had never issued any so-called ban. This denial did not change Zhao Benshan's situation; instead, it exposed this progressive freezing method even more clearly. At the time, industry media visited video websites. A LeEco employee said that the notification they received was not to remove all of Zhao Benshan's works, but rather to stop recommending them. Other websites removed Zhao Benshan's official page and related profiles. Meanwhile, CCTV insiders revealed that the requirement they received was also not to report on or publicize Zhao Benshan, rather than deleting all his old works. Not taking them down, just not recommending them; not deleting them, just no longer reporting on them; not announcing a ban, but simply no longer giving traffic. This precisely matched Xi Jinping's original words at the Forum on Literature and Art Work: never providing propagation channels for harmful literary and art works. Every institution could claim that this was its own program arrangement and business decision. Yet all the decisions combined were enough to make a person disappear from the national public stage. Moreover, this purge did not go to the extent of completely destroying Zhao Benshan. His old works were not all deleted, Liulaogen Stage still had branches in operation, his disciples continued to perform, and Country Love was filmed one season after another. He even continued to serve as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) until the leadership transition in 2018. Zhao Benshan had expressed submission at the fastest speed, which left him a path to survival. Beijing had no need to confiscate his property, nor did it need to disband the Zhao troupe. It only needed to take away the public influence Zhao Benshan had formed without central authorization. The Forum on Literature and Art did not stop at just one speech. When the forum was held in October 2014, what was made public was mainly news reports and excerpts of Xi Jinping's speech. Exactly one year later, in October 2015, the full text of Xi Jinping's speech was officially published. A few days later, the CCP Central Committee also issued opinions on the prosperity and development of socialist literature and art, requiring party committees at all levels to include literature and art work in their important agendas, raise the organizational level of creation and production, and prevent leaving literature and art production entirely to market regulation. By 2016, the Film Industry Promotion Law wrote serving the people, serving socialism, and putting social benefits first into law. In 2018, film administration authority was transferred from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television to the Publicity Department of the CCP Central Committee. The Publicity Department externally used the signboard of the National Film Administration, directly responsible for film content censorship. From the internal party group passing the plan, to Xi Jinping personally convening the symposium for the literature and art circles, to central documents, laws, and institutional reforms, the rules proposed at the 2014 symposium were implemented layer by layer. The two name changes concerning Zhao Benshan precisely recorded this change. In June 2015, Liaoning University announced that the Benshan Art College was renamed the Liaoning University College of Arts, on the grounds that the cooperation agreement had expired. In 2019, Benshan Media was again renamed Liaoning Folk Art Troupe Co., Ltd. The company, the disciples, and the TV dramas all remained. However, that Zhao Benshan who made grand finale appearances every Lunar New Year's Eve and could represent the Northeast to the national audience never returned.

In December 2021, Liaoning Folk Art Troupe Co., Ltd. underwent industrial and commercial changes. Zhao Benshan stepped down as the legal representative, chairman, and general manager, with An Shoushu taking over. The company's equity remains firmly in the hands of Zhao Benshan and his wife. He and his wife hold direct shares, and Benshan Holdings also holds 60% of the company's shares. What Zhao Benshan stepped down from is a position, not control. Zhao Benshan's focus in life has gradually shifted to Hainan. He walks birds, practices calligraphy, plays the erhu, occasionally drops by the company, and sometimes makes appearances on his apprentices' livestreaming channels. Rumors about his serious illness, hospitalization, and even death pop up on the internet every now and then. Many viewers still do not believe that Zhao Benshan is truly not coming back. Every Spring Festival, some people always expect him to suddenly appear on the Spring Festival Gala; every time he appears in his apprentices' videos, rumors surface that Zhao Benshan is preparing for a comeback. In February 2025, this expectation suddenly seemed to become reality. Zhao Benshan led the Liaoning Folk Art Troupe to the United States for a tour. The first stop in New York was set at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, where Zhao's troupe members, including Song Xiaobao, Wang Xiaoli, Song Xiaofeng, and Cheng Ye, took the stage together. When the white-haired Zhao Benshan walked out wearing his familiar blue vest, a 5,000-seat theater was completely sold out, and the audience stood up and applauded. The organizers later clarified that the most expensive face value ticket was $500; the $1400 front-row price circulating online was inflated by scalpers. Zhao Benshan spoke, saying that he hadn't been on stage for over a decade, and especially coming to New York this year and sitting together with family, it truly had the atmosphere and flavor of celebrating the Lunar New Year. He really wanted to see everyone. He and his apprentices re-performed Blind Date 3 and sang Filial Respect to Dad and Mom. For those audiences who had left China for many years, what they faced was not just an ordinary comedian, but the Spring Festival Gala in their memories, the New Year's Eve dinner, and an era that had already ended. The New York performance revealed the most crucial fact in Zhao Benshan's exit story: he had neither lost his audience nor his performance ability. What truly could not be restored was his position in China's public culture. After this tour, rumors of a comeback became even more frequent. Since Zhao Benshan could still perform, would he return to variety shows? Would he accept commercial performances? Would he one day appear on the Spring Festival Gala again? Until July 13, 2026, his daughter Qiuqiu completely closed this door in her livestreaming room. She told netizens that Zhao Benshan no longer accepts any commercial performances, variety shows, or public events, nor will he perform sketches again. Her father now lives in Sanya long-term and has entered what she calls the elderly strolling stage. Qiuqiu also responded to online rumors about Zhao Benshan's deteriorating health and hospitalization. Zhao Benshan's physical and mental state have no major issues, and his decision not to appear anymore is his own choice. This was not a planned retirement press conference. The daughter simply answered netizens' persistent questions in the livestreaming room, yet spoke a conclusion on behalf of her father that had been awaited for over a decade: he is not coming back. That is all for today. If this episode is valuable to you, please like, turn on the little bell, share, and welcome to subscribe to this channel; friends who are able can join as members to support our small channel. I am Yao Yaojiang, who loves thinking and values logic, and we will see you in the next episode.