Ding Guangquan is a senior actor in the China Coal- Mine Art Troupe. He has recently become noted in Chinese comic dialogue circles since accepting more than 40 foreign students,according to latest China Today.

Many of Ding's foreign students are now stars of comic dialogue on the Chinese stage today, such as Mark Rowswell, commonly known as Da Shan, a BA in Chinese studies from Canada£» Koiac Korio, an MA in the Chinese language from Yugoslavia £» Haubensack Espher, also known as Hao Lianlu, an MA in classical Chinese from Germany£» David Moser, also known as Mo Dawei, a PhD in linguistics£» and Andrea Goidman, also known as Guo Anrui, a PhD in Chinese folk literature.

Kanal is one of Ding Guangquan's foreign students. She studied western medicine for six years at Beijing Medical Science University before taking on advanced studies in acupuncture and moxibustion at the Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Her sister, Anal, a graduate of Beijing University, is also Ding's student. Anal is even more popular on stage with Chinese audiences than her sister. The traditional comic dialogue of Spring Festival Couplets performed by Anal and her teacher, Ding Guangquan, won the praise even of professional actors. Kanal says, "We have liked comic dialogue since childhood, and are extremely lucky to have met such a good teacher." Ding maintains good personal relationships with his students. Once he sprained his arm while showing one of his Canadian students how to play bamboo clappers. Kanal heard about this accident, and offered to give him acupuncture treatment. Ding was a little doubtful about her skills, but Kanal just smiled and said jokingly, "Well, to me, it's just a piece of cake, but you have to be brave."

In 1989, Ding was commissioned by CCTV to create a TV short sketch. The plot required foreign characters, and so he chose Mark Rowswell and the Kanal sisters out of more than 500 foreign students at Beijing University to perform with him. Since then, teaching foreigners how to perform comic dialogue seems to have become Ding's part-time job. Their different cultural background makes it difficult for foreigners to understand and communicate the gist and sense of humor of Chinese comic dialogues to Chinese audiences, so they need guidance.

Ding believes that it is not enough merely to instruct his foreign students on how to make witty remarks or perform tongue twisters, but that he should also impart the essentials of comic dialogue if they are to be performed well. All of his students must pass three tests£º First, vocabulary. They must understand all the words. Second, pronunciation. They must speak fluent Chinese with flawless pronunciation and intonation, and with pauses at the appropriate points. He often drills them sentence by sentence. Third, the performance. Once Haubensack studied the performance of a passage from Huangmei Opera, but was unsuccessful in her rendition, even after Ding had been through it with her several times. After he had shouted at her for the umpteenth time£º No, repeat £¡ Haubensack could no longer bear it, and broke down, protesting that Ding did not respect her. Ding thereupon changed his tactics, smiled, and adopted a more encouraging manner in getting her to try again a few more times, until she eventually got it right.

Many people imagine that Ding must have made lots of money from teaching foreign students. The fact is that Ding instructs his foreign students voluntarily, as many of them are not rich and are obliged to support themselves with part-time jobs. In reciprocating his help, Ding's foreign students invite him to visit their countries. Ding believes that through the training he gives on comic dialogue performance, foreigners gain an insight into China's ancient culture and the humor of its people, the value of which is immeasurable in terms of money.

Ding adopts a competency-based instruction method in his teaching. Beginners, or students whose native language is completely different from Chinese, first of all study a few simple techniques, such as tongue twisters. To students who already have a good command of Chinese, he teaches more complicated routines, requiring greater skill. Ding believes that in order to master a foreign language, one should also be familiar with the culture from which it originates. He often invites foreign students to his home, thus creating for them a good language environment.

Despite having so many foreign students, Ding Guangquan himself does not speak any other foreign language. As his foreign students all speak Chinese, they have no communication problems. Besides, since he spends all his time teaching students how to master the art of comic dialogue, he would be hard-pressed to find the time to learn a foreign language himself. "I would really like to learn a foreign language, but I simply don't have the time. My foreign students love our traditional art of comic dialogue so passionately, I spend all my time coaching them."

While becoming more and more famous on the Chinese stage, these foreigners are also making amazing progress in their Chinese studies. Taking Da Shan £¨Mark Rowswell£© as an example, there is a world of difference between the first sketch he performed ten years ago and his present standard. For more than ten years, Da Shan has been the partner of Ding Guangquan in performing comic dialogue. Consequently, his Chinese level has not only been greatly elevated, but he has also fallen under the spell of Chinese culture as a whole. Mo Dawei £¨David Moser £© also says, "In studying Chinese, you are not simply studying the Chinese language, but also Chinese culture, and comic dialogue is its gateway." Ding Guangquan's teaching methods have even aroused the interest of Chinese language teaching experts. They call it the "interest-based Chinese teaching method."

At present, Ding Guangquan and his favorite foreign students, such as Da Shan, Koiac, and Mo Dawei, together with experts from the China Research Institute of Art, are engaged in a big project revising and compiling traditional Chinese comic dialogue passages. They have a program called "interest-based Chinese teaching" on www.kp.net.cn, which aims at teaching foreigners the Chinese language by way of comic dialogue. Ding has also published a book entitled, "The Ding Guangquan Comic Dialogue Collection."

Ding Guangquan says, "To my foreign students, I am first of all Chinese, and secondly a comic dialogue teacher. I never reject anyone who comes to me for help, as we Chinese people are, and always have been, hospitable."