Number of words: 106

Jack’s mother, Cui Wencai, worked on a factory production line. His father, Ma Laifa, worked as a photographer at the Hangzhou Photography Agency. But both share a passion for pingtan, a form of Chinese folk art performance that involves the singing of ballads and comedic routines punctuated by the sound of wooden clappers. Exposure to the art form may help explain Jack’s abilities as a communicator. Pingtan no doubt provided Jack’s parents a welcome escape from the hardscrabble life of postrevolutionary China, a window to a richer and more colorful past.

Excerpted from page 37 of ‘Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma built’ by Duncan Clark