Deyunshe's new woman apprentice Photo: Sina Weibo

Wang Enxi, a teen girl who is zealously into the traditional Chinese comedic performance known as xiangsheng, or crosstalk, has recently become the first female apprentice of the country's most popular crosstalk group Deyunshe. Hailed by netizens as a "true Deyun girl," the 14-year-old Wang is not only a talent that stood out from around 2.6 million applicants across the country, she is also the first person to change the group's controversial "no woman" applicants rule. 

Wang won entrance into Deyunshe during the final round of the group's recruiting competition in early June, when the face and founder of the group, xiangsheng performer Guo Degang gave her an olive branch and accepted her as the group's first female apprentice. She will go on to train with the troupe as part of the long, or "dragon," group - one of the eight groups within the troupe. 

Wang's success stunned netizens on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo majorly because Deyunshe previously only accepted male applicants during tryouts. 

Back when this round of tryouts began in December, Deyunshe surprised many fans by removing "only men" from its list of requirements for applicants. 

"As a Deyunshe fan girl, I think Guo Degang has been quite frank about his no-female apprentice rule. I remember he explained his reasoning during a show saying that there are certain jokes or content that women performers have a difficult time handling… Although I don't like this, from watching shows for a long time, I know what he meant," Li Ling, a Deyunshe fan, told the Global Times on Monday. 

"Traditional Xiangsheng culture does tend to prefer men over women because performances can involve some 'meaty' jokes, like jokes that subtly touch on sexual subjects or 'offensive' ethical topics. Male performers are believed to be more out there, shameless and less shy when throwing out such jokes… But, this was a tradition from a long time ago," Xu Xiaoxin, a Chinese folk culture expert, told the Global Times on Monday. 

Some netizens saw Wang's entrance into the traditionally masculine career as an example of increased equality in today's professional environment, calling it an "improvement for gender differentiation treatment." Others said that Wang's success encouraged them to keep practicing xiangsheng and call for more "traditional professions" to be more gender balanced.   

"When I saw Wang's performance, it confirmed for me that when it comes natural talent and to those very important but basic skills, women can actually do better than men. It gives me confidence to keep practicing," Nizi, a 23-year-old woman xiangsheng performer, told the Global Times on Monday. 

"The change, I mean to be more gender equal when it comes to work, is not just how different professions get up-to-date, another significant factor is that public opinion on the issue of gender equality puts pressure on industries and forces them to change for the better," Xu, a cultural sociology expert, said, suggesting that public opinion may have put "pressure" on Deyunshe to change its gender-specific tradition.