Books
10.07.16![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/books/system/christopher_rea_-_age_of_irreverence_-_lowrez.jpg?itok=tK1eyQLt)
![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/assets/images/books/covers/rea_cover_.jpg)
The Age of Irreverence
The Age of Irreverence tells the story of why China’s entry into the modern age was not just traumatic, but uproarious. As the Qing dynasty slumped toward extinction, prominent writers compiled jokes into collections they called “histories of laughter.” In the first years of the Republic, novelists, essayists, and illustrators alike used humorous allegories to make veiled critiques of the new government. But, again and again, political and cultural discussion erupted into invective, as critics gleefully jeered and derided rivals in public. Farceurs drew followings in the popular press, promoting a culture of practical joking and buffoonery. Eventually, these various expressions of hilarity proved so offensive to high-brow writers that they launched a concerted campaign to transform the tone of public discourse, hoping to displace the old forms of mirth with a new one they called youmo (humor).Christopher Rea argues that this period—from the 1890s to the 1930s—transformed how Chinese people thought and talked about what is funny. Focusing on five cultural expressions of laughter—jokes, play, mockery, farce, and humor—he reveals the textures of comedy that were a part of everyday life during modern China’s first “age of irreverence.” This new history of laughter not only offers an unprecedented and up-close look at a neglected facet of Chinese cultural modernity, but also reveals its lasting legacy in the Chinese language of the comic today and its implications for our understanding of humor as a part of human culture. —University of California Press{chop}
Media
01.05.16![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/pooh2.png?itok=OMYSrCA_)
China’s Top 5 Censored Posts in 2015
Chinese President Xi Jinping rounded off 2015 by posting his first message on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, in the form of a new year’s greeting to the People’s Liberation Army. His post received 52,000 comments, mostly fawning messages of...
Green Space
12.22.15![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/everestglacier1921-2007_900x600x.jpg?itok=TDURgTJH)
Nu River Saved, Jack Ma Buys Preservation Land
A great piece of news came from China on the night of December 16, that the Yunnan provincial government in southwest China has announced its decision to not develop hydro-electric projects on the Nu River, also known as the Salween (link in Chinese...
Green Space
12.03.15![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/bei_jing_30tian_jie_ping_2015nian_12yue_1ri_.png?itok=j965sWHf)
Smog and Imagination
The last few days of November, air pollution was back in the headlines and social media feeds of millions of Chinese. Here are a few highlights:The creative WeChat post “Beijing Smog: Use Your Imagination When You Go Out,” shows a series of photos...
Green Space
11.30.15![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/gettyimages-499295564.jpg?itok=IZnU16mH)
China’s Joking on Smog
In the world of Chinese air pollution, there’s a new kid on the block. Shenyang, the northeastern stronghold of heavy industry and manufacturing since the Mao era, last week saw its levels of PM2.5 pollution shoot past 1000 and register a whopping...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.25.15China’s Feminists Stand up Against ‘Misogynistic’ TV Gala
Washington Post
The most widely watched television show on earth was peppered with jokes at the expense of women.
ChinaFile Recommends
12.26.13Chinese Netizens Give Max Baucus a Chinese Name
China Digital Times
The new U.S. Ambassador to China, Max Baucus, asked for suggestions for his Chinese name. Everyone unanimously replied, “Meikesi? Baokesi.” [“He hasn’t died of coughing? It’s guaranteed he’ll die of coughing.”]
Media
11.06.13![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/sex_ed_video_screen_grab_node4269_0.png?itok=4qYKz0rD)
Sex Ed Videos Go Viral
A collection of sex education videos have just gone, ahem, viral on the Chinese Internet. On October 29, a three-person team calling itself the “Nutcracker Studio” released three one-minute clips addressing tough topics in childhood sex education,...
Sinica Podcast
08.16.13![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/138780684.jpg?itok=VBcKqGEy)
David Moser Interviews Mark Rowswell
from Sinica Podcast
If you are a long-timer in China, this is a show that needs no introduction. One of the most famous foreigners in China, Mark Rowswell (a.k.a. Dashan), shot to fame in the early 1990s after a fortuitous break on Chinese television. In this live...
ChinaFile Recommends
08.12.13Psst, Chinese State Media: It's Satire
Businessweek
This week, Xinhua, China’s state-run newswire, picked up and translated a satirical blog post from the New Yorker’s Borowitz Report as though it were straight news reporting.
Sinica Podcast
05.10.13![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/screenshot_2013-10-08_11.35.53.png?itok=jlAAFYYU)
Humor in China
from Sinica Podcast
Feel that your jokes have been falling flat lately? Enough that you’ve even started wondering whether China is a grand experiment in irony and deadpan humor? This week on Sinica, hosts Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn are delighted to invite guests...
Media
02.15.13![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/ruan-zongze.jpg?itok=AvzkTnUQ)
Free Coffee for North Korea?
What should China do to persuade its moody ally North Korea to comply with international restrictions on its nuclear ambitions?“Free conference rooms, free coffee, free soft drinks and dessert,” was the surprising and quickly viral Internet...
Sinica Podcast
11.04.11![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/screenshot_2014-08-19_07.32.20.png?itok=yL_j-kv9)
The Extremes of China Media
from Sinica Podcast
It seems to be the consensus among longtime China watchers that the Chinese media has become more radicalized over the last five years, with both online and traditional channels now feeding the public conflicting stories of both reflexive scorn for...
Sinica Podcast
08.13.10![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/75277574.jpg?itok=obv-wk0S)
The Guo Degang Affair and China Apologists
from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Jeremy Goldkorn, Gady Epstein, Will Moss, and David Moser join Kaiser to talk about the Guo Degang Affair. When a fight with the media at the famous comedian’s house became news, the incident sparked a week of heated public...