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Of course obscene jokes and a preoccupation with excrement and body functions are common in many societies and have raised smiles, like other familiar jokes, for centuries. For example, instead of saying a Chinese laughed, one can say: 'Saw teeth but did not see eyes.' Because of physiognomy, one is hardly able to use this expression about Europeans.
In most countries satire survives partly because it tweaks the authorities. In England, there is the Yes, Minister series, which has stood the test of time, just as there is an assortment of tales about party leaders in China where jokes go back decades. Over the last half century many certainly do not conform with Communist Party intentions. For example, with a play on words, the late elder statesman, Deng Xiaoping, was sometimes ‘insulted' by calling him 'Little Bottle,' which the sound of his given names suggests. Certainly it is not the done thing in China to insult the leaders and humour, like most things, is expected to serve the state.
Two other anti-establishment jokes, which went the rounds not too long after the Communist government took over in China in 1949, run as follows:
A parrot said, 'I'm smart, I listen to people and mimic what they say.'
A government official replied, ‘I'm smarter, I only copy what our leaders say!'
The second joke runs:
Two men had a fight and one contestant bit off the other's nose. The case went to court. The man being tried insisted his opponent bit off his own nose. 'But how could he possibly do that?,' enquired the magistrate, 'His nose is situated above his mouth.' 'Simple' came the reply. 'He stood on a chair to get at it!' This joke seems to fall rather flat on most Westerners (and indeed on many Hong Kong Chinese) for whom it is not sufficiently subtle.
Although not considered good taste today, as mentioned before, just as there are English jokes about the Welsh, the Irish and the Scots,