WOMEN FIND GIFT OF GAB IN TAKEOVER OF CROSSTALK

High-energy, humorous, verbal art form is seeing a surge of female performers

At first, Shi Yun's parents couldn't understand why she would leave her well-paid job to start crosstalk — an art form consisting of rapid-fire jokes, clever wordplay and high energy.

A top graduate of the prestigious Huazhong University of Science and Technology with a degree in biotechnology, she had a high-paying job at an internet company in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, when she plunged into a new career.

"Why leave a stable job for something like this?" Shi said, laughing as she recounted her parents' response. Her father couldn't even bring himself to tell his friends that his daughter had become a crosstalk artist, she said.