Han Lao Da is a Singapore xiangsheng (crosstalk) pioneer, Chinese-language theatre playwright, director and educator who has contributed greatly to the Singapore Chinese arts scene for over four decades. The founder of Sinfeng Xiangsheng Society, Han brought the Chinese comedic performing art of xiangsheng to Singapore in the '70s, and has also written many Chinese-language theatre plays. He received Hou Bao Lin awards for his contributions to the development of xiangsheng in Southeast Asia. In 1990, Han received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to theatre in Singapore.

Born Han Yongyuan in 1947 in Singapore to Hainanese immigrant parents, Han adopted a few pen names as a young playwright, including Hai Shu and Tan Tian, but it was the name Han Lao Da that would become most popularly associated with him.

The seeds of Han’s love for playwriting and theatre were planted in his school days at Chung Cheng High School in the early ’60s when he frequently performed with his school drama group at Victoria Theatre. He would begin his theatre activities in earnest later on when he attended the Teachers’ Training College, forming the college’s Chinese Drama Club. He then took theatre classes at the Practice Performing Arts School (now known as Theatre Practice) under respected Singapore theatre practitioner Kuo Pao Kun and his dancer-choreographer wife Goh Lay Kuan, and also participated in the school’s theatre productions.

Practice Performing Arts School’s art ensemble went independent and formed the Southern Arts Society in 1972, and Han joined the society the following year. He was a playwright for the society and occasionally performed in its plays, including one of their most memorable plays Walking Out of the Prison – The Story of Ah Seng where Han, acting as a gangster, acted alongside his mentor Kuo Pao Kun, who was the titular character. The Southern Arts Society gained a reputation for its popular plays which enjoyed long runs.

In the same year Han joined the Southern Arts Society, he also became acquainted with his other great passion—xiangsheng—which was then a relatively new art form in Southeast Asia. Han discovered a book by Chinese xiangsheng master Ma Ji, and began his fascination with the comedic art form.

The next year, in 1973, he wrote his first xiangsheng play The Gift Ticket, which was performed in Singapore and Malaysia. Typical of xiangsheng plays, it had a cast of only two, one of whom was Kuo. Kuo’s superb performance paired with the play’s sparkling script (which Kuo had also helped to edit) made The Gift Ticket a great success, and it was hailed as an exciting, new style of xiangsheng. The play blended old and new elements, with writing that had Singapore working-class man in mind. From there, encouraged by his mentor Kuo, Han began writing xiangsheng plays diligently.

A particularly productive period followed in the ’80s. Han wrote several short plays for theatre and also wrote many xiangsheng plays for xiangsheng events co-organised by the Southern Arts Society and the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation held at community centres around Singapore. Jointly promoted by the corporation and Kuo, the community centre presentations raised Han’s profile as a xiangsheng writer.

When Han became acquainted with renowned Chinese xiangsheng masters Ma Ji, in 1984, and Jiang Jun and Tang Jie Zhong, in 1986, he learnt as much as he could from them. In 1986, Han founded the Sinfeng Xiangsheng Society to develop the art form in Singapore. At the same time, he wrote and directed the improvised play Five Libras to acclaim at the Drama Festival.

Since then, Han has written and published around 50 xiangsheng plays, nine full-length dramas, numerous short plays, four xiangsheng collections, a book about Chinese theatre in the ’80s, a prize-winning children’s book under the pen names Han Lao Da, Hai Shu and Tan Tian, and numerous articles about Chinese theatre and xiangsheng. He has also directed and produced many of his theatre and xiangsheng plays for the Sinfeng Xiangsheng Society and popular performance series such as 1992’s Tan Tian Xiangsheng Performance, often inviting xiangsheng performers from overseas to perform in Singapore. He has also restaged plays by Kuo in recent years, such as a triple bill production featuring two of Kuo’s plays presented in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2005.

Over the decades, Han also became a prominent arts leader. He served as vice-chairman of the Southern Arts Society, head of the Southern Arts Troupe, and secretary/chairman of the Singapore Federation of Chinese Drama Association.

He has also received several awards recognising his artistic contributions. He received the National Book Award from National Book Development Council of Singapore for his children’s book The Story of the Merlion Parts I–V, a Broadcast Award from the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles in 1995, and two Hou Bou Lin Awards in 1995 and 2000 in China for his contributions to the development of xiangsheng in Southeast Asia. In 1990, Han received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to theatre in Singapore.

Today, Han serves as the principal of Han Language Centre, which he founded in 1993. He oversees a successful education centre—with branches around Singapore—that uses colourful idioms, proverbs and witty banter in its Chinese language classes. Han also continues to write, direct and produce theatre and xiangsheng plays with the Sinfeng Xiangsheng Society.

Sinfeng Xiangsheng Society.