Jia Ling

Jia Ling (Chinese: 贾玲 ; pinyin: Jiǎ Líng ) is a Chinese xiangsheng performer, actress and comedian who rose to fame after appearing at the 2010 Spring Festival Gala and who in 2015 caused controversy across China for her negative comedic interpretation of Hua Mulan. Her comedic style which focuses on the perspective of a young woman is said by critic to be an attempt to make Xiangsheng relevant to a younger audience.

In 2010 she made her television debut during the 2010 CCTV New Year's Gala where she appeared in a segment called Gala Talk which was later voted the third favorite performance of the night. Later in 2015 she performed a controversial sketch of Hua Mulan where she implied Mulan to be a coward that was duped into joining the army. Her performance was described as inappropriate and defiling the nation's culture to which Jia later apologized for causing offense.

Jia was born 贾裕玲 (Jiǎ Yùlíng) in 1982 into a poor peasant family in Xiangyang, Hubei Province. After graduating from the Central Academy of Drama in 2003 where she studied Xiangsheng performance, she worked with crosstalk performer Feng Gong appearing a series of short sketches. In the same year she participated in China's National Comic sketch Tournament (全国相声小品邀请赛) winning first place.