On July 9th, mainland China’s renowned crosstalk artist Yang Shaohua passed away at the age of 94. Surprisingly, Yang Shaohua had attended a ribbon-cutting event in a wheelchair that morning, only to leave this world by noon. The cause of his death was not disclosed by his family, sparking discussions and condolences from all around.
The news of Yang Shaohua’s passing has brought about sorrow and mourning from various quarters. Some netizens pointed out that on the morning of July 9th, the 94-year-old Yang Shaohua endured the scorching heat and was taken by his two sons to a restaurant for a grand opening ceremony, only to hear of his passing a few hours later. This raised controversies regarding whether the old man was “exploited” for the event.
From the video shared by the hotel owner at that time, it was evident that Yang Shaohua was unable to speak, his face darkened, and his eyes unfocused. Due to the extremely hot weather, the elderly man could only open his mouth; in another video, Yang Shaohua was seen sitting in a wheelchair, surrounded by people constantly taking photos of him. In the already cramped space, many people crowded around him, his face turning dark, struggling to support his body, appearing quite overwhelmed.
Even more astonishingly, after Yang Shaohua finished his appearance on stage, his family members recorded a promotional video with him. In the footage, Yang Shaohua was eating starchy sausage, which is already an unhealthy deep-fried food, and on such a hot day, he had to cooperate for the video shoot, displaying a visibly distressed expression.
Netizens have been discussing, “Who can bear such weather, the old man was out in the scorching sun at high noon?”, “His sons used up his last bit of value”, “Crazy! Let a frail and skinny ninety-year-old man cut ribbons on such a hot day, he doesn’t seem to be in good health” and “His sons, in pursuit of money, don’t care about the well-being of the old man”.
As debates continued, both the videos of Yang Shaohua participating in the ribbon-cutting ceremony and eating starchy sausage were deleted. Many netizens rushed to the comment section to inquire about the reason for the video deletions, commenting on the “swift action”. Yang Shaohua frequently made appearances on the account “Grandpa Yang’s Happy Life” and “tasted” the recommended products for sale, such as fruit corn, sour plum soup, red bean bread, and Jiangmi noodles.
According to comedian Li Jindou, Yang Shaohua passed away peacefully at home during a nap on July 9th. He was in good health before his death, and his four sons were very filial. Yang Shaohua had contributed a lot to each of his families, and their relationships were harmonious.
On the evening of the 9th at around 10:30, over a thousand videos on the account “Grandpa Yang’s Happy Life” were no longer visible, including multiple promotional videos.
According to “Jímù News”, “Grandpa Yang’s Happy Life” is the account of Yang Shaohua’s son, Yang Lun, and currently has over 720,000 followers. The account’s description reads, “Live at 5 p.m. every day, Grandpa brings you delicious food to share.”
By around 10:30 on the 9th, the account only had 72 videos left. Many of the product promotion videos featuring Yang Shaohua had been removed, but the account’s product showcase remained open. Just four hours earlier at around 6:30, the account had a total of 1,354 visible videos.
Chinese media reports revealed that Yang Shaohua’s health had been problematic since 2023 when he was hospitalized for high blood pressure. While it wasn’t serious, at his advanced age, his body couldn’t handle such stress. Over the past two years, every time he appeared, he looked extremely haggard and had lost a significant amount of weight. Reviewing his past promotion videos, it was noticed that he had difficulty speaking about six months ago. Netizens lamented that even when the elderly man had difficulty speaking, his family frequently had him record videos and participate in events, which was hard to comprehend.