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Q: How would you describe Chinese humor?
Not sure, but Asians don't get sarcasm, they think your just being an asshole, and if you are using sarcasm, you generally are.
Shining_brow:
I actually disagree. They get sarcasm - the problem is, they don't think that you do. I've noticed that most Chinese colleagues and students will use sarcasm, and have their own version of it, but when it comes from us (particularly in English), then they tend to take it literally.
Once I've gotten them used to my sarcastic nature, then they quickly accept it.
Humour is a higher level of SLA.
I would describe as the need to ask useless, pointless questions without actually inputting anything of value yourself.
One liners - usually asked as a question, with no backing or follow-up....
it's the same with the humors everywhere.
we use:
sarcasm,
something unexpectedly smart/stupid,
phrases/words with double meanings,
some popular saying (and their edited version) at the time,
something rhyming.
I hardly think there is a thing called chinese humor, i think they are all the same once you know what they are talking about. If you get confused, and think that piece of humor isn't funny, it's mostly because there's some knowledge you don't have. Some times when I read about IT/ music/ politics jokes even in Chinese, I don't get them, coz i lack certain knowledge in that field.
Chinese humor is very obvious, there isn't much subtlety to it. I went to see The Mermaid the other day. It is pretty good, but it was very obvious that the rest of the audience enjoyed way more than me. For a lot of the film they were in hysterics, I'm talking uncontrollable laughter. The comedy in the film is so obvious it's almost slapstick. There isn't even a hint of subtlety to it.
There is nothing wrong with it, but it's the sort of thing that went down well in the west 20 or 30 years ago. Maybe when comedy is more common in China they will move on from where they are now.
I am not sure I would agree with SpongeBon that there is nothing like Chinese humor but certainly there is Chinese sense of humor.
Some Chinese jokes I find funny, majority not. Sometimes I am totally astonished at what people around me find funny.
I do not want to say the jokes are simple or stupid - they are just not funny at all ...
And it's not only about 'language or Chinese reality' related jokes. That goes over the whole scope.
But I must admit that majority of my Chinese friends finds my jokes as totally weird and sometimes we are competing who can find more 'own culture jokes' which the others find funny - usually can find few but not many - still a great fun over the bottle of beer.
I don't get Chinese humour but then I believe that understanding a country's humour requires the deepest understanding of its culture. They do laugh a lot though. In fact I overheard a conversation just twenty minutes ago between two people (we'll call them A and B) that I think illustrates my point.
A: Have you eaten rice today?
B: Yes.
(Both laugh quietly)
A: Sunny today, I think it's warming up.
B: Yes.
(Laughing a little louder)
B: But I hear tonight may be cold.
A: Oh?
(Both laughing heartily now)
B: Yes.
(Laughter builds...)
A: Oh.
(...and builds...)
A: Golly.
(...and builds)
B: Anyway, I need to go, I want to buy some eggs.
(Laughing hard)
A: Eggs?
(Laughing uncontrollably now)
B: Yes, eggs.
(Uproarious laughter continues)
A: Oh, ok, bye then.
(Laughter has built to a crescendo)
B: Yes, bye.
(Both leave, wiping tears from their eyes).
Janosik:
I agree that understanding one country humour requires very deep understing of its culture. Would like to just add that finding certain type of humour funny requires also acceptance of that part of culture. Otherwise one just knows why the others laugh ...
SpongeBob:
As a Chinese person I actually don't find your example funny. They must have something funny about rice and eggs happened that they know but we don't. Such as maybe the other day they had horrible food made by rice and eggs and they both swore they'd never have rice and eggs again. Then they were laughing at themselves when both decided to eat again. Or maybe it's the tone or facial expressions. some people are just funny no matter what they say.
mArtiAn:
Don't get sensitive, I was just giving an example of how people laugh at anything. I hear it all the time, the most banal, everyday conversations you can imagine punctuated by a constant stream of laughter. It's enviable, I wish I laughed so easily.
SpongeBob:
I agree with you. some people have very strange J points. in my office too, some people laugh all the time, i always sit in the corner and keep serious and quiet. but when i do talk to them, even though it's just about work, they would all laugh and tell me how funny i am.
but maybe it's not a cultural thing, some laugh some don't. same everywhere.
mArtiAn:
Same everywhere, maybe, I wouldn't know, I haven't been everywhere. More prominent than it is in England though, in England we're more likely to complain than laugh, but that's probably because of the fucking weather. See, there I go.
SpongeBob:
Lol. You are humorous. I heard british humors are more difficult to understand than American ones. I've not been to everywhere either. But in theory, it could be.
Immature. What does one expect from an unculture which actively chews with its mouth open?
LastTargarean:
Hard to use olfactory senses after rolling off of your mom
A lot of the jokes are obviously only understood if you have a good grasp of the language so you understand the wordplay, double meanings etc. Just like any language.
Some things though are universal and everyone can laugh at. Dick and fart jokes, toilet humor, these things are understood by all and can unite cultures, even if it's only for for an evening.
silverbutton1:
Speaking of toilet humor. Recently my pinay GF and I were flat hunting with a Chinese teacher helping us look. We joked that our current toilet actually has 2 commodes in it...one squatter and one sitter. We joked to the chinese teache rthat if we both had to go, we could technically go at the same time..looking at each other doing the number 2...aka synchronized pooping. heh.
The humour is actually very strange indeed. Simply that the idea of a young Chinese person parading on a stage wearing Cultural Revolution style clothing and carrying a little red book can have the locals in hysterics.
They should stop and think what they are having a laugh about. Perhaps some of their own family members suffered terribly at that time. Perhaps the thought that it held back China's development by generations and resulted in the car crash of a society that exists today.
Just so I do not come across all sanctimonious on the issue, I like John Cleese but I found some of his Monty Python sketches a bit too close to the mark for comfort. Hitler riding around on a bicycle shouting through a megaphone might be hilarious to some and be discounted as merely satire but there are still millions that that would not find it funny in the least.
Shining_brow:
As a Monty Python lover, I will defend such a skit. They knew exactly what they were doing, and by doing so (and, of course Life of Brian is another good example), they're trying to say "let's just move on". Humour is one of those things which often person A will find funny, and person B is offended.
Is it funnier when you know that's what they're trying to do? (ie, not ignorant of the facts, and the possibility you might be offended?)
Kaiwen:
To be honest SB, I take it or leave it. I watched the Hitler scene on Youtube and didn't find it very funny. Whereas I found Life of Brian hilarious. I am not offended by satire related to historical events or wars. I loved Blackadder Goes Forth. Hitler and Himmler for me though are two characters that could well do with consigning to the historical figure garbage can.
Janosik:
@Kaiwen:
Well, addressing your 'fellow-ECC colleague' SB without intention to offend him has pretty much of Chinese humor in it ... 
silverbutton1:
Here we go again with the Jew victimization ad nauseam. Hey, why not go to the rooftops right now and shout it out for everyone to hear. ugh, the eternal victim. yawn.
I don't find 'Funniest Home Videos" that are shown on the bus TVs particularly funny. Apparently, Chinese and Americans do.
Jiao Ben Shan, Charlie Chaplin and Mr Bean are hugely popular here. That's not my taste, perhaps it is too obvious and I don't need a laugh track to know when I should laugh. Ironic black humour is lost in Middle Guo.
Janosik:
I do not think so.
Especially in pure men party there will be a lot of cold jokes and black humor.
Chinese are taught to be polite towards each other and speak only positively (even though this is not always the case ...). Acceptable exceptions are when they are angry (the common Chinese saying is: 'go to die') or when among friends - then it's common to make fun of many things/people.
Black humor I find OK but the cold jokes are a bit too cold for my understanding ...
iWolf:
Thanks for your interesting Chinese perspective. It appears that I simply don't get Chinese humour but then, I probably wouldn't attend a sausagefest.
Puns and such are universal, however, "Chinese are taught to be polite towards each other" is a bit of a stretch. Mocking someone about their appearance is a national pastime. If the other person is offended by this, the ubiquitous response is "I was only joking". People who are slightly overweight are constantly ridiculed.
One thing that I found very amusing today:
I took a bus and an old guy (probably somewhere between 70 and 80 years old) got on. He hobbled to a seat with his walking stick and, when he sat down, I noticed some English writing emblazened on his jacket.
"Sex has ruined my life".
Obviously, he was blissfully unaware of the meaning and he couldn't understand why I kept looking and laughing.
Chinese humour is based n face. If there is loss or gaining of face, they consider it hilarious. Sadly, that involves a lot of pointing and laughing at people's petty mistakes.
Take a show like Last Week Tonight, where John Oliver mocks power abusers for slip-ups. Although by our standards, they lose face, by Chinese standards they don't. They see power abusers as enviable, so laughing at them would be childish jealousy. The concept of using public pressure to shame them is well-known, but they don't see it as a laughing matter.
Laughing at powerful people feels wrong to Mainland Chinese, and after the Cultural Revolution, this is understandable. Mainlanders need to feel safe before they can laugh at someone, so the target must be completely unthreatening. Westerners find this objectionable, because it's tantamount to bullying, and we stand up against such behaviour.
Word jokes, illogical idiocy, random juxtapositions and other 'harmless' jokes simply do not register, because the main ingredient is missing: Mianzi/Face. Without embarrassment, Chinese don't see why it's funny. Those kind of jokes are probably regarded as immature.
One of my favourite jokes that gives me giggles, is from a Futurama episode. Fry manages to trap an alien master brain inside a book that he wrote himself, along with bad plot and spelling errors. The brain then declares: "I will stop invading Earth and leave forever with my minions, for no raisin."
The mental picture of an army stopping its invasion for 'no raisin' just messes me up. My head tries to make sense of it:
"There's no raisin… I guess it's time for us to leave."
or
"Excuse me, my invasion forces and I have embarked on an odyssey to find no raisin. Do you know where we can find it?"
Anyway, I'm not saying Chinese don't like wordplay, because they do. But such a joke would not go as far as it did with me. Wordplay is good as a weak ice breaker, and might get a smile, but it wouldn't launch people into belly laughter. Mainland humour prefers to be mean, not innocuous.
Janosik:
@AladinSane:
If you mean it seriously so you can freely change your nickname to AladinInsane ...
