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Learning how to “get” jokes in Chinese is hard.
There's nothing worse than arriving at a punchline, preparing to congratulate yourself that you understood it, and found it funny, and then be left confused and annoyed, fake-laughing while everyone else around you roars with laughter.
So, with that in mind, this week we explore the story of a joke that didn't go down well with lots of people in China.
It was dropped by Lǐ Hàoshí 李昊石, also known as House, a Chinese comedian who caused an online uproar, a $2 million fine, a police probe, cancelled stand-up shows across China, and possibly the end of his promising career, with a single gag at a standup show last weekend.
House is accused of making offensive remarks about the Chinese army. His wisecrack was a play on words using the eight characters of a military slogan.
This is what he said:
After I moved to Shanghai, I rescued two stray dogs. We can’t really say we rescued them because they were at the top of the food chain on that nearby hill, and didn’t need our help.
Other dogs are cute and sweet, but these two are fierce. When I first saw them, it felt like I was witnessing a wildlife documentary. They would chase a squirrel like a top predator. When I saw these two dogs, only eight words flashed in my mind: "Well disciplined, capable of winning battles" (作风优良, 能打胜仗).
They were truly exceptional. I walked proudly on the streets of Shanghai with these two dogs. The only problem was that they had so much energy. My physical fitness couldn’t keep up.
我在上海救助了两条流浪狗，也谈不上救助，因为它们在山上处于食物链的顶端，和别的狗不一样，别的狗很萌很可爱，而这两条狗很有战斗力，追捕松鼠的时候，就像动物世界里一样，非常厉害。一看到它们，就想到了8个字，“作风优良，能打胜仗。
非常优秀。我牵着这两只狗在上海的街头威风凛凛，唯一的问题就是他们的运动量太大了，我的身体素质有点跟不上。
The humour is in the juxtaposition of the cute dogs usually seen on the streets of Shanghai versus the elite killers he took on as pets, and the comedian’s poor physical fitness contrasted with the energy of the two dogs.
The main punchline seems to be the last bit, which comes after the eight-character army slogan, which many English translations miss off.
To try and make sense of the joke, the fallout, and online discussions, we looked at two articles which supported the ban on Li, and two that struck a more sympathetic tone towards him.
These supportive articles also express concerns over China’s cancel culture and censorship, which is often driven by individual internet users who decide they don’t like something, shout about it online, which is then amplified by state-run social media accounts, further feeding the online uproar.
As we created this week’s newsletter, we found lots of connections with the language of China's cancel culture, and slogans from the Cultural Revolution, which our editor Zoe Qian discusses more in the podcast.
So that’s what we explore this week!
Favourite Five
1. 取关 qǔ guān
unfollow
如果你不赞同我的观点，你可以取关，也可以留言反驳 - If you don't agree with my point of view, you can unfollow me, or leave a message to disagree. [2]
Note: Short for “cancel follow” (取消关注) which we discussed before. Not to be confused with "cancel culture", which is embodied in 社死 - discussed below.
2. 抖包袱 dǒu bāo fu
deliver the punchline
一个大家都不知道的材料，用到这里面来，完全起不到抖包袱的效果 - If you refer to things that nobody knows, then the punchline wouldn't work. [2]
Note: Clarifying different words:
包袱 bāo fu - punchline of a joke (usually not repeatedly used in different occasions)
梗 gěng - meme, something that people find funny and therefore is used in many different occasions. Can also be translated as pun, joke or play on words depending on the context.
笑点 xiào diǎn - the funny part of a joke, or something somebody finds funny.
3. 毒草 dú cǎo
poisonous weed
不能因为这8个字，就说脱口秀行业是毒草，要无限期取缔 - You can't call stand-up comedies toxic and ban them indefinitely just because of these eight characters. [1]
Note: A phrase which was common during the Cultural Revolution - usually describing politically unacceptable books, movies, songs which did not conform to the mainstream political agenda.
4. 上纲上线 shàng gāng shàng xiàn
take trivial things as matter of principle
法律要讲证据，要公正，道德要清晰可判定，这些才是底线。不能将可商榷的事直接上纲上线，更不能直接将公众的愤怒变成刑事处罚，那都不是我们想要的法治 - The law must be based on evidence, fairness, and morality must be clear and determinable. These are the bottom lines. We shouldn’t treat opinions as matters of principle, let alone turn public anger into criminal punishment. That is not the rule of law we want. [2]
More: We discuss further in the China Project Phrase of the Week.
5. 语不惊人死不休 yǔ bù jīng rén sǐ bù xiū
I will not stop until I can write great lines; deliberately say shocking things
为了能够吸引观众，所以很多演员就难免追逐“语不惊人死不休”。在这种情况下，打擦边球就成为了某些人的常态。而这次，又是一个典型的事例 - In order to be able to attract the audience, many performers will inevitably do anything they can to say shocking things. This often leads to some comedians hinting at things they should not talk about. Such as what we see in the case of House. [3]
Note: A line from the Du Fu poem, Short Narrative: Surging River Resembles Raging Ocean (江上值水如海势聊短述). In modern Chinese it refers to the desire of entertainers to please their audiences, resorting to attention grabbing tactics.
Consuming the Conversation
Useful words
6. 侮辱 wǔ rǔ
insult
纷纷指责这是侮辱军队和人民子弟兵 - They all accused him of insulting the army and the people's soldiers. [1]
Note: 人民子弟兵 rén mín zǐ dì bīng - an informal term referring to the PLA.
7. 敬畏 jìng wèi
respect; be in awe of
我想与此如出一辙，那就是在他们心里没有敬畏 - I think it's the same thing. It’s that they have no respect. [3]
8. 社死 shè sǐ
social death, cancel
我们可以批评一个人，批判一个公司，但运动式社死，要不得 - We can criticize a person, criticize a company, but this should not be allowed to become a witch hunt. [1]
Note: short for 社会性死亡 “social death”
9. 格调 gé diào
tone, style
演员们为了所谓的包袱，也就难免失了规范，这样，他们就会在内容上不管不顾，低格调东西的出现，也就在所难免了 - For the sake of the so-called punchline, performers will inevitably lower their standards. In this way, they ignore the content quality, and it’s inevitable that they will go into low-brow humour.
10. 覆灭 fù miè
complete destruction
因为这八个字，就让一个花了几年好不容易新生出来的行业，就这么覆灭了 - Because of these eight characters, an industry that took several years to grow is totally wiped out. [1]
11. 冤枉 yuān wang
wronged
我认为笑果文化被调查、House本人被处理，他们一点都不冤枉 - I think Xiaoguo Culture totally deserves to be investigated and House himself deserves to be cancelled. [3]
Three-character phrases
12. 开先河 kāi xiān hé
set a precedent
这次的事件，是头一回基于“感觉”和动机猜测，这极为少见，可以说是突破性的。这种事如果开了先河，影响会极坏 - This incident is the first time such a reaction has been based on feeling or guessing what his motivations were. This is extremely rare and has not happened before. If this sets a precedent, the impact will be extremely bad. [2]
13. 下三滥 xià sān làn
indecent, immoral
