Fortunately, smiling and laughter are part of the universal vocabulary and the entire human race correctly understands their meaning. And it’s fortunate that people acquire this unconscious ability at birth - there is no need to specifically teach them to laugh. We only teach to restrain laughter and cultivate a culture of humor.
There is an assumption that since there are so many Chinese, they laugh more often, more, louder and laugh at everything. That's how it is - the Chinese laugh all the time. Moreover, they are the ones who can fake laughter and laugh on command. I believe it. Especially after these some top-rated examples of Chinese humor:
One Shanghai man decided to commit suicide by throwing himself into a river. However, having discovered that the water in the river was very dirty, he changed his mind and climbed ashore.
One thief from Shandong province decided to commit burglary. Having entered a dark room, he tried to light a “candle”, but, since he mistook a box of firecrackers for a box of candles, he was seriously wounded as a result.
The Chinese joke about the Russians:
In Russia, a drunk man arbitrarily entered someone else's a private house and was beaten to death by the old man with the help of a strong cucumber.
Over the Americans:
One woman from the USA decided to shoot herself. She fired 18 bullets, but none of them killed her. The unfortunate woman had to get behind the wheel and go to the hospital to receive medical care.
Chinese joke:
At night, a drunkard violently knocks on a lamppost.
Why are you doing it? - a passerby asks.
I knock on the door, but my wife doesn’t open it!
And you knock more quietly, because your wife is not sleeping yet - look, the light above her is still on!
New Year's joke:
For protection purposes environment don't send me garbage greeting cards! To avoid exposure to radiation, do not call me with congratulations on your mobile phone! And don’t send SMS with congratulatory words - save money! Just send me 2015 yuan and that's it!
Chinese laughter represents a deep understanding of only the Chinese unconscious, which breaks out into certain situations. The Chinese find it funny mainly from Chinese jokes. Scientists only general outline the specific brain mechanism responsible for laughter is known. But even without them we know that it is caused by many sensations and thoughts and sets in motion various parts of the body.
Seeing a person laughing is an unpleasant experience: a reddened (purple) face, a strange grimace on the face, very strange gurgling sounds and a body shaking with laughter. However, after a while we ourselves can laugh - laughter is “contagious.” And this phenomenon is also inherent in the Chinese - they constantly laugh at each other, smile at the sight of someone laughing... They make fun of each other. And sometimes they laugh.
A person is unlikely to decide in advance when to laugh - our brain makes this decision for us. Except for the Chinese, of course.
An example is traditional Chinese theater. They laugh in the text. Don't believe me?.. See for yourself. Laughter is convenient because it rarely interrupts the structure of a sentence and acts as an accent or appears during pauses in a conversation. It is also convenient because the tension accumulated in the psyche seeks a way out and finds it. Of course, all this is true of laughter in Chinese. And when it comes to theatrical laughter during a conversation, the Chinese are ahead of the rest.
Chinese jokes are very difficult to translate into other languages because they are characterized by linguistic bias and subtle wordplay. For example, most Europeans would probably be confused when they hear this Chinese joke:
“There’s a girl on the bus. At each stop, she gets up, then sits down and moves on. Why? Because she misunderstood the light board with the inscription “Next stop”, reading “You must get up at the stop.”
To understand what the joke is, you need to at least know the basic rules of reading Chinese characters. That's why Chinese jokes always come with an explanation. In the European tradition, there is usually no need to explain where to laugh. You either find it funny or you don't. If a joke needs interpretation, then most likely it will be classified as “flat humor.”
Humor and culture
Humor is a phenomenon closely related to culture. Even if you have sufficient knowledge Chinese language, but do not know the cultural traditions, it will not be easy for you to understand the meaning of Chinese jokes.
And although there is no universal humor that is understandable to absolutely everyone, certain themes appear especially often in jokes in both Europe and Asia. For example, you can joke about modern technologies, human stupidity or money. As the number of rich people in China increases, they are increasingly becoming a frequent target for wags. For example:
"The son tells his father: 'Dad, I have a problem. Since I came to study in Europe, it seems to me that I am not like everyone else. I am the only one who drives a Mercedes-Benz to school. All my classmates drive train." To which the father replies: “Everything is OK, son. I just transferred 5 million euros to your account - buy yourself a train!”
The most experienced jokers will say that they have already heard a similar joke, but it was about the “golden youth” living in another country. We won't argue. Humor is an international phenomenon.
The genre of stand up comedy, popular in Europe, or the so-called “comedy club”, when a team of witty guys entertains the audience sitting at tables in a bar with a glass of beer or wine, has only recently come to China. European comedians call the Chinese audience " tough nut to crack”, since cheering her up is not an easy task.
American comedian Judy Carter recalls that she began her first concert in China with a reprise traditional for her programs: “I recently broke up with my boyfriend...”. However, when she uttered this phrase in front of a Chinese audience, she heard a collective sigh in the hall, and undisguised sympathy appeared in the eyes of the audience. The usually quick-witted Judy didn't know what to do or how to lift the audience's spirits.
As it turns out, in China there are topics that are not customary to make fun of: it’s better not to joke about marriage relationships - it’s too personal, it’s better not to joke about the economy - it’s too depressing, and politics is generally taboo.
And yet gradually among younger generation among the Chinese, the “comedy club” genre is beginning to gain popularity. Young comedians are no longer afraid to joke about taboo topics. For example, comedian Zhou Libo often makes fun of the fact that wealthy Chinese invest huge amounts of money in American stocks. Here's one of his jokes:
“Since the difference between rich and poor in China is very large, the only thing that can solve this problem is to simply collect all the money and divide it equally among everyone. But then each of us will only receive a couple of dollars, because China’s population is so large!”
Summarize. Even if you didn't understand some Chinese joke, it's forgivable. Just smile politely and ask them to explain what's funny. No matter how great they are cultural differences, a sense of humor brings even representatives of different nations together.
Often, a European (or any Western) reader of local “humorous” Chinese stories is mostly left somewhat bewildered by what they read. He doesn't see humor.
During its development, Chinese humor was formed under the influence of ancient mythological and cultural traditions. At the heart of everything were strict collectivism, the indivisibility of one individual from the whole society, priority to universal action and mutual assistance.
For these reasons, non-collective laughter in the Celestial Empire is often treated with some condemnation, and the individualist, as a rule, himself becomes the object of ridicule. The power of collectivism is also confirmed by the traditions of Confucianism. That is why, laughter at fathers, leadership and elders, officials, country, government and, especially, ruling emperor have always been banned.
The majority of Chinese jokes and anecdotes are in fact nothing more than edifying stories, the humor in which is poorly understood or completely incomprehensible to the Western reader.
The peculiarity of national Chinese humor is also visible in traditional terminology, which finds a place in different situations to highlight the funny. There are a huge number of terms that relate to the concept of “comic”.
The Chinese have always been described as people who tolerate the manifestation of evil. This is expressed in the fact that in difficult situations or while perceiving verbal humor from Chinese residents, you will not notice stunning laughter.
In Chinese humor it is very rare to see sharp satire and merciless sarcasm. It is allowed to make fun of friends a little, but so as not to “make them blush.” In this case, hints, comic moments, puns and small and harmless ridicule are used.
The most common type of ridicule is the use of images from Chinese history, references to events, idioms from past.
One of the most effective ways denunciation is irony. Moreover, irony is often perceived local residents at face value. In this regard, a European should keep in mind that before saying anything jokingly, it is worth warning the interlocutor from China about this in advance, in otherwise he may accept it as truth.
IN humorous genres It is not customary to use women on stage. This stems from the fact that in past eras, the comic dialogues 相声 (xiangsheng) used rather rude ridicule and statements that were not decent for girls not only to perform, but simply to hear.
Among other genres of comic culture in China, parody can be distinguished, but not individual, but on the way to talk ( dialect features) or sing (a parody of an opera work or a performance of a specific song).
A parody cannot be an exact copy of a real performance, because in this case the viewer will leave to listen to the original. She needs to be deliberate, almost caricatured. In this case, a very generalized character is repeated, and not an individual person, so as not to harm the image of the performer.
The different essences of national cultures (foreign and Chinese) require certain preparations for listening to individual compositions and thematic performances. Not so long ago, the coloratura soprano provoked wild laughter and rejection from uneducated Chinese viewers.
The same reaction often appears among uninformed European audiences when listening to the compositions of their Peking opera.
However, experts say that the enormous popularity of the Russian performer Vitas in China is due to the fact that the upper range of his voice, not taking into account timbre fluctuations, is very close to the voices of singers female roles in Chinese opera.
Also one exciting incident. Western entertainers usually invite visitors from the audience to “play along” in some comic scene. In the Celestial Empire, from the audience to the stage never under any conditions at will will not rise - so as not to appear funny in front of others and “not to lose your face.”
It can be noted that Chinese humor is highly dependent on customs national culture and not at all universal. You should behave extremely carefully when talking with Chinese residents, so as not to “lose your face,” because it is the same for all nationalities - when it is smart and when it is stupid.
Fortunately, smiling and laughter are part of the universal vocabulary and the entire human race correctly understands their meaning.
And it’s fortunate that people acquire this unconscious ability at birth - there is no need to specifically teach them to laugh. We only teach to restrain laughter and cultivate a culture of humor.
There is an assumption that since there are so many Chinese, they laugh more often, more, louder and laugh at everything. That's how it is - the Chinese laugh all the time. Moreover, they are the ones who can fake laughter and laugh on command. I believe it. Especially after these some top-rated examples of Chinese humor:
One Shanghai man decided to commit suicide by throwing himself into a river. However, having discovered that the water in the river was very dirty, he changed his mind and climbed ashore.
One thief from Shandong province decided to commit burglary. Having entered a dark room, he tried to light a “candle”, but, since he mistook a box of firecrackers for a box of candles, he was seriously wounded as a result.
The Chinese joke about the Russians:
In Russia, a drunken man arbitrarily entered someone else's private home and was beaten to death by the old man with the help of a strong cucumber.
Over the Americans:
One woman from the USA decided to shoot herself. She fired 18 bullets, but none of them killed her. The unfortunate woman had to get behind the wheel and go to the hospital to receive medical care.
Chinese joke:
At night, a drunkard violently knocks on a lamppost.
- Why are you doing it? - a passerby asks.
- I knock on the door, but my wife doesn’t open it!
- Knock more quietly, because your wife is not sleeping yet - look, the light above her is still on!
New Year's joke:
To protect the environment from litter, please do not send me birthday cards! To avoid exposure to radiation, do not call me with congratulations on your mobile phone! And don’t send SMS with congratulatory words - save money! Just send me 2015 yuan and that's it!
Chinese laughter represents a deep understanding of only the Chinese unconscious, which breaks out in certain situations. The Chinese find it funny mainly from Chinese jokes. Scientists only know in general terms about the specific brain mechanism responsible for laughter. But even without them we know that it is caused by many sensations and thoughts and sets in motion various parts of the body.
Seeing a person laughing is an unpleasant experience: a reddened (purple) face, a strange grimace on the face, very strange gurgling sounds and a body shaking with laughter. However, after a while we ourselves can laugh - laughter is “contagious”. And this phenomenon is also inherent in the Chinese - they constantly laugh at each other, smile at the sight of someone laughing... They make fun of each other. And sometimes they laugh.
A person is unlikely to decide in advance when to laugh - our brain makes this decision for us. Except for the Chinese, of course.
An example is traditional Chinese theater. They laugh in the text. Don't believe me?.. See for yourself. Laughter is convenient because it rarely interrupts the structure of a sentence and acts as an accent or appears during pauses in a conversation. It is also convenient because the tension accumulated in the psyche seeks a way out and finds it. Of course, all this is true of laughter in Chinese. And when it comes to theatrical laughter during a conversation, the Chinese are ahead of the rest.
Chinese jokes are very difficult to translate into other languages because they are characterized by linguistic bias and subtle wordplay. For example, most Europeans would probably be confused when they hear this Chinese joke:
“A girl is riding on a bus. At every stop she gets up from her seat, then sits down and moves on. Why? Because she misunderstood the light board with the inscription “Next stop”, reading “You have to get up at the stop.”
To understand what the joke is, you need to at least know the basic rules for reading Chinese characters. That's why Chinese jokes always come with an explanation. In the European tradition, there is usually no need to explain where to laugh. You either find it funny or you don't. If a joke needs interpretation, then most likely it will be classified as “flat humor.”
Humor and culture
Humor is a phenomenon closely related to culture. Even if you have sufficient knowledge of the Chinese language, but do not know the cultural traditions, it will not be easy for you to understand the meaning of Chinese jokes.
And although there is no universal humor that is understandable to absolutely everyone, certain themes appear especially often in jokes in both Europe and Asia. For example, you can joke about modern technology, human stupidity or money. As the number of rich people in China increases, they are increasingly becoming a frequent target for wags. For example:
“The son says to his father: “Dad, I have a problem. Since I came to study in Europe, it seems to me that I am not like everyone else. I'm the only one who drives a Mercedes-Benz to school. All my classmates travel by train." To which the father replies: "Everything is OK, son. I just transferred 5 million euros to your account - buy yourself a train!"
The most experienced jokers will say that they have already heard a similar joke, but it was about the “golden youth” living in another country. We won't argue. Humor is an international phenomenon.
The genre of stand up comedy, popular in Europe, or the so-called “comedy club,” when a team of witty guys entertains the audience sitting at tables in a bar with a glass of beer or wine, has only recently come to China. European comedians call the Chinese public a "tough nut to crack" because making them laugh is not an easy task.
American comedian Judy Carter recalls that she began her first concert in China with a reprise traditional for her programs: “I recently broke up with my boyfriend...”. However, when she uttered this phrase in front of a Chinese audience, she heard a collective sigh in the hall, and undisguised sympathy appeared in the eyes of the audience. The usually quick-witted Judy didn't know what to do or how to lift the audience's spirits.
As it turns out, in China there are topics that are not customary to make fun of: it’s better not to joke about marriage relationships - it’s too personal, it’s better not to joke about the economy - it’s too depressing, and politics is generally taboo.
And yet, gradually among the younger generation of Chinese, the comedy club genre is beginning to gain popularity. Young comedians are no longer afraid to joke about taboo topics. For example, comedian Zhou Libo often jokes about the fact that wealthy Chinese invest huge amounts of money in American stocks. Here's one of his jokes:
"Since the difference between rich and poor in China is so large, the only thing that can solve this problem is to simply collect all the money and divide it equally among everyone. But then each of us will only receive a couple of dollars, because China's population is so large!" .
Summarize. Even if you didn't understand some Chinese joke, it's forgivable. Just smile politely and ask them to explain what's funny. No matter how great the cultural differences, a sense of humor brings even representatives of different nations closer together.
Often, a European (or any Western) reader of local “humorous” Chinese stories is mostly left somewhat bewildered by what they read. He doesn't see humor.
During its development, Chinese humor was formed under the influence of ancient mythological and cultural traditions. At the heart of everything were strict collectivism, the indivisibility of one individual from the whole society, priority to universal action and mutual assistance.
For these reasons, non-collective laughter in the Celestial Empire is often treated with some condemnation, and the individualist, as a rule, himself becomes the object of ridicule. The power of collectivism is also confirmed by the traditions of Confucianism. That is why, laughing at fathers, leadership and elders, officials, the country, the government and, especially, the ruling emperor has always been prohibited.
The majority of Chinese jokes and anecdotes are in fact nothing more than edifying stories, the humor in which is poorly understood or completely incomprehensible to the Western reader.
The peculiarity of national Chinese humor is also visible in traditional terminology, which finds a place in various situations to highlight the funny. There are a huge number of terms that relate to the concept of “comic”.
The Chinese have always been described as people who tolerate the manifestation of evil. This is expressed in the fact that in difficult situations or when perceiving verbal humor from Chinese residents, you will not notice stunning laughter.
In Chinese humor it is very rare to see sharp satire and merciless sarcasm. It is allowed to make fun of friends a little, but in such a way as not to “make them blush.” In this case, hints, comic moments, puns and small and harmless ridicule are used.
The most common type of ridicule is the use of images from the history of China, references to events, and popular expressions from the past.
One of the most effective ways of denunciation is irony. In addition, irony is often taken at face value by local residents. In this regard, a European needs to keep in mind that before saying something jokingly, it is worth warning the interlocutor from China about this in advance, otherwise he may take it for the truth.
In humorous genres, it is not customary to use women on stage. This comes from the fact that in past eras, the comic dialogues 相声 (xiangsheng) used rather rude ridicule and statements that were not decent for girls not only to perform, but simply to hear.
Among other genres of comic culture in China, one can distinguish a parody, but not of an individual person, but of a way of speaking (dialect features) or singing (a parody of an opera work or the performance of a specific song).
A parody cannot be an exact copy of a real performance, because in this case the viewer will leave to listen to the original. She needs to be deliberate, almost caricatured. In this case, a very generalized character is repeated, and not an individual person, so as not to harm the image of the performer.
The different essences of national cultures (foreign and Chinese) require certain preparations for listening to individual compositions and thematic performances. Not so long ago, the coloratura soprano provoked wild laughter and rejection from uneducated Chinese viewers.
The same reaction often appears among uninformed European audiences when listening to the compositions of their Peking opera.
However, experts say that the enormous popularity of the Russian performer Vitas in China is due to the fact that the upper range of his voice, not taking into account timbre fluctuations, is very close to the voices of female singers in Chinese opera.
Also one exciting incident. Western entertainers usually invite visitors from the audience to “play along” in some comic scene. In the Celestial Empire, one of the spectators will never, under any circumstances, rise to the stage of his own free will - so as not to appear funny in front of others and “not to lose his face.”
It can be noted that Chinese humor is highly dependent on the customs of the national culture and is not at all universal. You should behave extremely carefully when talking with Chinese residents, so as not to “lose your face,” because it is the same for all nationalities - when it is smart and when it is stupid.
Fortunately, smiling and laughter are part of the universal vocabulary and the entire human race correctly understands their meaning.
And it’s fortunate that people acquire this unconscious ability at birth - there is no need to specifically teach them to laugh. We only teach to restrain laughter and cultivate a culture of humor.
There is an assumption that since there are so many Chinese, they laugh more often, more, louder and laugh at everything. That's how it is - the Chinese laugh all the time. Moreover, they are the ones who can fake laughter and laugh on command. I believe it. Especially after these some top-rated examples of Chinese humor:
One Shanghai man decided to commit suicide by throwing himself into a river. However, having discovered that the water in the river was very dirty, he changed his mind and climbed ashore.
One thief from Shandong province decided to commit burglary. Having entered a dark room, he tried to light a “candle”, but, since he mistook a box of firecrackers for a box of candles, he was seriously wounded as a result.
The Chinese joke about the Russians:
In Russia, a drunken man arbitrarily entered someone else's private home and was beaten to death by the old man with the help of a strong cucumber.
Over the Americans:
One woman from the USA decided to shoot herself. She fired 18 bullets, but none of them killed her. The unfortunate woman had to get behind the wheel and go to the hospital to receive medical care.
Chinese joke:
At night, a drunkard violently knocks on a lamppost.
- Why are you doing it? - a passerby asks.
— I knock on the door, but my wife doesn’t open it!
- Knock more quietly, because your wife is not sleeping yet - look, the light above her is still on!
New Year's joke:
To protect the environment from litter, please do not send me birthday cards! To avoid exposure to radiation, do not call me with congratulations on your mobile phone! And don’t send SMS with congratulatory words - save money! Just send me 2015 yuan and that's it!
Chinese laughter represents a deep understanding of only the Chinese unconscious, which breaks out in certain situations. The Chinese find it funny mainly from Chinese jokes. Scientists only know in general terms about the specific brain mechanism responsible for laughter. But even without them we know that it is caused by many sensations and thoughts and sets in motion various parts of the body.
Seeing a person laughing is an unpleasant experience: a reddened (purple) face, a strange grimace on the face, very strange gurgling sounds and a body shaking with laughter. However, after a while we ourselves can laugh - laughter is “contagious”. And this phenomenon is also inherent in the Chinese - they constantly laugh at each other, smile at the sight of someone laughing... They make fun of each other. And sometimes they laugh.
A person is unlikely to decide in advance when to laugh - our brain makes this decision for us. Except for the Chinese, of course.
An example is traditional Chinese theater. They laugh in the text. Don't believe me?.. See for yourself. Laughter is convenient because it rarely interrupts the structure of a sentence and acts as an accent or appears during pauses in a conversation. It is also convenient because the tension accumulated in the psyche seeks a way out and finds it. Of course, all this is true of laughter in Chinese. And when it comes to theatrical laughter during a conversation, the Chinese are ahead of the rest.
Chinese jokes are very difficult to translate into other languages because they are characterized by linguistic bias and subtle wordplay. For example, most Europeans would probably be confused when they hear this Chinese joke:
“A girl is riding on a bus. At every stop she gets up from her seat, then sits down and moves on. Why? Because she misunderstood the light board with the inscription “Next stop”, reading “You have to get up at the stop.”
To understand what the joke is, you need to at least know the basic rules for reading Chinese characters. That's why Chinese jokes always come with an explanation. In the European tradition, there is usually no need to explain where to laugh. You either find it funny or you don't. If a joke needs interpretation, then most likely it will be classified as “flat humor.”
Humor and culture
Humor is a phenomenon closely related to culture. Even if you have sufficient knowledge of the Chinese language, but do not know the cultural traditions, it will not be easy for you to understand the meaning of Chinese jokes.
And although there is no universal humor that is understandable to absolutely everyone, certain themes appear especially often in jokes in both Europe and Asia. For example, you can joke about modern technology, human stupidity or money. As the number of rich people in China increases, they are increasingly becoming a frequent target for wags. For example:
“The son says to his father: “Dad, I have a problem. Since I came to study in Europe, it seems to me that I am not like everyone else. I'm the only one who drives a Mercedes-Benz to school. All my classmates travel by train." To which the father replies: "Everything is OK, son. I just transferred 5 million euros to your account - buy yourself a train!"
The most experienced jokers will say that they have already heard a similar joke, but it was about the “golden youth” living in another country. We won't argue. Humor is an international phenomenon.
The genre of stand up comedy, popular in Europe, or the so-called “comedy club,” when a team of witty guys entertains the audience sitting at tables in a bar with a glass of beer or wine, has only recently come to China. European comedians call the Chinese public a "tough nut to crack" because making them laugh is not an easy task.
American comedian Judy Carter recalls that she began her first concert in China with a reprise traditional for her programs: “I recently broke up with my boyfriend...”. However, when she uttered this phrase in front of a Chinese audience, she heard a collective sigh in the hall, and undisguised sympathy appeared in the eyes of the audience. The usually quick-witted Judy didn't know what to do or how to lift the audience's spirits.
As it turns out, in China there are topics that are not customary to make fun of: it’s better not to joke about marriage relationships - it’s too personal, it’s better not to joke about the economy - it’s too depressing, and politics is generally taboo.
And yet, gradually among the younger generation of Chinese, the comedy club genre is beginning to gain popularity. Young comedians are no longer afraid to joke about taboo topics. For example, comedian Zhou Libo often jokes about the fact that wealthy Chinese invest huge amounts of money in American stocks. Here's one of his jokes:
"Since the difference between rich and poor in China is so large, the only thing that can solve this problem is to simply collect all the money and divide it equally among everyone. But then each of us will only receive a couple of dollars, because China's population is so large!" .
Summarize. Even if you didn't understand some Chinese joke, it's forgivable. Just smile politely and ask them to explain what's funny. No matter how great the cultural differences, a sense of humor brings even representatives of different nations closer together.
Often, a European (or any Western) reader of local “humorous” Chinese stories is mostly left somewhat bewildered by what they read. He doesn't see humor.
During its development, Chinese humor was formed under the influence of ancient mythological and cultural traditions. At the heart of everything were strict collectivism, the indivisibility of one individual from the whole society, priority to universal action and mutual assistance.
For these reasons, non-collective laughter in the Celestial Empire is often treated with some condemnation, and the individualist, as a rule, himself becomes the object of ridicule. The power of collectivism is also confirmed by the traditions of Confucianism. That is why, laughing at fathers, leadership and elders, officials, the country, the government and, especially, the ruling emperor has always been prohibited.
The majority of Chinese jokes and anecdotes are in fact nothing more than edifying stories, the humor in which is poorly understood or completely incomprehensible to the Western reader.
The peculiarity of national Chinese humor is also visible in traditional terminology, which finds a place in various situations to highlight the funny. There are a huge number of terms that relate to the concept of “comic”.
The Chinese have always been described as people who tolerate the manifestation of evil. This is expressed in the fact that in difficult situations or when perceiving verbal humor from Chinese residents, you will not notice stunning laughter.
In Chinese humor it is very rare to see sharp satire and merciless sarcasm. It is allowed to make fun of friends a little, but in such a way as not to “make them blush.” In this case, hints, comic moments, puns and small and harmless ridicule are used.
The most common type of ridicule is the use of images from the history of China, references to events, and popular expressions from the past.
One of the most effective ways of denunciation is irony. In addition, irony is often taken at face value by local residents. In this regard, a European needs to keep in mind that before saying something jokingly, it is worth warning the interlocutor from China about this in advance, otherwise he may take it for the truth.
In humorous genres, it is not customary to use women on stage. This comes from the fact that in past eras, the comic dialogues 相声 (xiangsheng) used rather rude ridicule and statements that were not decent for girls not only to perform, but simply to hear.
Among other genres of comic culture in China, one can distinguish a parody, but not of an individual person, but of a way of speaking (dialect features) or singing (a parody of an opera work or the performance of a specific song).
A parody cannot be an exact copy of a real performance, because in this case the viewer will leave to listen to the original. She needs to be deliberate, almost caricatured. In this case, a very generalized character is repeated, and not an individual person, so as not to harm the image of the performer.
The different essences of national cultures (foreign and Chinese) require certain preparations for listening to individual compositions and thematic performances. Not so long ago, the coloratura soprano provoked wild laughter and rejection from uneducated Chinese viewers.
The same reaction often appears among uninformed European audiences when listening to the compositions of their Peking opera.
However, experts say that the enormous popularity of the Russian performer Vitas in China is due to the fact that the upper range of his voice, not taking into account timbre fluctuations, is very close to the voices of female singers in Chinese opera.
Also one exciting incident. Western entertainers usually invite visitors from the audience to “play along” in some comic scene. In the Celestial Empire, one of the spectators will never, under any circumstances, rise to the stage of his own free will - so as not to appear funny in front of others and “not to lose his face.”
It can be noted that Chinese humor is highly dependent on the customs of the national culture and is not at all universal. You should behave extremely carefully when talking with Chinese residents, so as not to “lose your face,” because it is the same for all nationalities - when it is smart and when it is stupid.
Interesting article?
Fortunately, smiling and laughter are part of the universal vocabulary and the entire human race correctly understands their meaning.
And it’s fortunate that people acquire this unconscious ability at birth - there is no need to specifically teach them to laugh. We only teach to restrain laughter and cultivate a culture of humor.
There is an assumption that since there are so many Chinese, they laugh more often, more, louder and laugh at everything. That's how it is - the Chinese laugh all the time. Moreover, they are the ones who can fake laughter and laugh on command. I believe it. Especially after these some top-rated examples of Chinese humor:
One Shanghai man decided to commit suicide by throwing himself into a river. However, having discovered that the water in the river was very dirty, he changed his mind and climbed ashore.
One thief from Shandong province decided to commit burglary. Having entered a dark room, he tried to light a “candle”, but, since he mistook a box of firecrackers for a box of candles, he was seriously wounded as a result.
The Chinese joke about the Russians:
In Russia, a drunken man arbitrarily entered someone else's private home and was beaten to death by the old man with the help of a strong cucumber.
Over the Americans:
One woman from the USA decided to shoot herself. She fired 18 bullets, but none of them killed her. The unfortunate woman had to get behind the wheel and go to the hospital to receive medical care.
Chinese joke:
At night, a drunkard violently knocks on a lamppost.
Why are you doing it? - a passerby asks.
I knock on the door, but my wife doesn’t open it!
And you knock more quietly, because your wife is not sleeping yet - look, the light above her is still on!
New Year's joke:
To protect the environment from litter, please do not send me birthday cards! To avoid exposure to radiation, do not call me with congratulations on your mobile phone! And don’t send SMS with congratulatory words - save money! Just send me 2015 yuan and that's it!
Chinese laughter represents a deep understanding of only the Chinese unconscious, which breaks out in certain situations. The Chinese find it funny mainly from Chinese jokes. Scientists only know in general terms about the specific brain mechanism responsible for laughter. But even without them we know that it is caused by many sensations and thoughts and sets in motion various parts of the body.
Seeing a person laughing is an unpleasant experience: a reddened (purple) face, a strange grimace on the face, very strange gurgling sounds and a body shaking with laughter. However, after a while we ourselves can laugh - laughter is “contagious”. And this phenomenon is also inherent in the Chinese - they constantly laugh at each other, smile at the sight of someone laughing... They make fun of each other. And sometimes they laugh.
A person is unlikely to decide in advance when to laugh - our brain makes this decision for us. Except for the Chinese, of course.
An example is traditional Chinese theater. They laugh in the text. Don't believe me?.. See for yourself. Laughter is convenient because it rarely interrupts the structure of a sentence and acts as an accent or appears during pauses in a conversation. It is also convenient because the tension accumulated in the psyche seeks a way out and finds it. Of course, all this is true of laughter in Chinese. And when it comes to theatrical laughter during a conversation, the Chinese are ahead of the rest.
Chinese jokes are very difficult to translate into other languages because they are characterized by linguistic bias and subtle wordplay. For example, most Europeans would probably be confused when they hear this Chinese joke:
“A girl is riding on a bus. At every stop she gets up from her seat, then sits down and moves on. Why? Because she misunderstood the light board with the inscription “Next stop”, reading “You have to get up at the stop.”
To understand what the joke is, you need to at least know the basic rules for reading Chinese characters. That's why Chinese jokes always come with an explanation. In the European tradition, there is usually no need to explain where to laugh. You either find it funny or you don't. If a joke needs interpretation, then most likely it will be classified as “flat humor.”
Humor and culture
Humor is a phenomenon closely related to culture. Even if you have sufficient knowledge of the Chinese language, but do not know the cultural traditions, it will not be easy for you to understand the meaning of Chinese jokes.
And although there is no universal humor that is understandable to absolutely everyone, certain themes appear especially often in jokes in both Europe and Asia. For example, you can joke about modern technology, human stupidity or money. As the number of rich people in China increases, they are increasingly becoming a frequent target for wags. For example:
“The son says to his father: “Dad, I have a problem. Since I came to study in Europe, it seems to me that I am not like everyone else. I'm the only one who drives a Mercedes-Benz to school. All my classmates travel by train." To which the father replies: "Everything is OK, son. I just transferred 5 million euros to your account - buy yourself a train!"
The most experienced jokers will say that they have already heard a similar joke, but it was about the “golden youth” living in another country. We won't argue. Humor is an international phenomenon.
The genre of stand up comedy, popular in Europe, or the so-called “comedy club,” when a team of witty guys entertains the audience sitting at tables in a bar with a glass of beer or wine, has only recently come to China. European comedians call the Chinese public a "tough nut to crack" because making them laugh is not an easy task.
American comedian Judy Carter recalls that she began her first concert in China with a reprise traditional for her programs: “I recently broke up with my boyfriend...”. However, when she uttered this phrase in front of a Chinese audience, she heard a collective sigh in the hall, and undisguised sympathy appeared in the eyes of the audience. The usually quick-witted Judy didn't know what to do or how to lift the audience's spirits.
As it turns out, in China there are topics that are not customary to make fun of: it’s better not to joke about marriage relationships - it’s too personal, it’s better not to joke about the economy - it’s too depressing, and politics is generally taboo.
And yet, gradually among the younger generation of Chinese, the comedy club genre is beginning to gain popularity. Young comedians are no longer afraid to joke about taboo topics. For example, comedian Zhou Libo often jokes about the fact that wealthy Chinese invest huge amounts of money in American stocks. Here's one of his jokes:
"Since the difference between rich and poor in China is so large, the only thing that can solve this problem is to simply collect all the money and divide it equally among everyone. But then each of us will only receive a couple of dollars, because China's population is so large!" .
Summarize. Even if you didn't understand some Chinese joke, it's forgivable. Just smile politely and ask them to explain what's funny. No matter how great the cultural differences, a sense of humor brings even representatives of different nations closer together.
Often, a European (or any Western) reader of local “humorous” Chinese stories is mostly left somewhat bewildered by what they read. He doesn't see humor.
During its development, Chinese humor was formed under the influence of ancient mythological and cultural traditions. At the heart of everything were strict collectivism, the indivisibility of one individual from the whole society, priority to universal action and mutual assistance.
For these reasons, non-collective laughter in the Celestial Empire is often treated with some condemnation, and the individualist, as a rule, himself becomes the object of ridicule. The power of collectivism is also confirmed by the traditions of Confucianism. That is why, laughing at fathers, leadership and elders, officials, the country, the government and, especially, the ruling emperor has always been prohibited.
The majority of Chinese jokes and anecdotes are in fact nothing more than edifying stories, the humor in which is poorly understood or completely incomprehensible to the Western reader.
The peculiarity of national Chinese humor is also visible in traditional terminology, which finds a place in various situations to highlight the funny. There are a huge number of terms that relate to the concept of “comic”.
The Chinese have always been described as people who tolerate the manifestation of evil. This is expressed in the fact that in difficult situations or when perceiving verbal humor from Chinese residents, you will not notice stunning laughter.
In Chinese humor it is very rare to see sharp satire and merciless sarcasm. It is allowed to make fun of friends a little, but in such a way as not to “make them blush.” In this case, hints, comic moments, puns and small and harmless ridicule are used.
The most common type of ridicule is the use of images from the history of China, references to events, and popular expressions from the past.
One of the most effective ways of denunciation is irony. In addition, irony is often taken at face value by local residents. In this regard, a European needs to keep in mind that before saying something jokingly, it is worth warning the interlocutor from China about this in advance, otherwise he may take it for the truth.
In humorous genres, it is not customary to use women on stage. This comes from the fact that in past eras, the comic dialogues 相声 (xiangsheng) used rather rude ridicule and statements that were not decent for girls not only to perform, but simply to hear.
Among other genres of comic culture in China, one can distinguish a parody, but not of an individual person, but of a way of speaking (dialect features) or singing (a parody of an opera work or the performance of a specific song).
A parody cannot be an exact copy of a real performance, because in this case the viewer will leave to listen to the original. She needs to be deliberate, almost caricatured. In this case, a very generalized character is repeated, and not an individual person, so as not to harm the image of the performer.
The different essences of national cultures (foreign and Chinese) require certain preparations for listening to individual compositions and thematic performances. Not so long ago, the coloratura soprano provoked wild laughter and rejection from uneducated Chinese viewers.
The same reaction often appears among uninformed European audiences when listening to the compositions of their Peking opera.
However, experts say that the enormous popularity of the Russian performer Vitas in China is due to the fact that the upper range of his voice, not taking into account timbre fluctuations, is very close to the voices of female singers in Chinese opera.
Also one exciting incident. Western entertainers usually invite visitors from the audience to “play along” in some comic scene. In the Celestial Empire, one of the spectators will never, under any circumstances, rise to the stage of his own free will - so as not to appear funny in front of others and “not to lose his face.”
It can be noted that Chinese humor is highly dependent on the customs of the national culture and is not at all universal. You should behave extremely carefully when talking with Chinese residents, so as not to “lose your face,” because it is the same for all nationalities - when it is smart and when it is stupid.
- China has become a superpower
- China is building a city in the forests of Belarus
- Is China ready to save Russia?
- Why is Siberia burned (video)
- The Chinese quietly bought up half the world