15
ing is as good as a session of aerobics. Cousins' book has become a classic.
It has been said that people laugh more in a warmer climate than they do in the cold north, which, up to a point, is understandable. Opening your mouth too wide lets in the cold! But certainly, as we have seen, senses of humour can differ from the north to the south of Europe, and from country to country. They can also change considerably across Asia. There are differences even among the population of China, from one region or one sub-ethnic group of people to another. Many of the latter have their own dialects which, many insist, may be classified as separate languages in their own right. In China, jokes about politics often go down better in Beijing, the capital city of the country and the heart of Government; whereas Shanghai is the major commercial centre in the People's Republic on the Mainland.
The People's Daily is purported to have quoted the Chinese joke about an alien being captured in China (HK Standard, 1998). In Shanghai, so it was written, they would dissect it for medical research. Beijingers, conversely, would send it to a museum as an educational exhibit, while the Cantonese, who eat anything whose back faces the sky and has four legs, except a table, would ask, 'which part of the creature can be braised in brown sauce?' Part-time comedian Brent Ambacher, long-time resident in Hong Kong, told the author that he had been unable to think of any similar jokes about Hong Kong people.
Quite rightly, making fun of people today because of their origins is usually frowned upon, as is the cracking of sexist and racist jokes. Many squirm at 'black humour' which is too close to the bone. Yet in Hong Kong the term gweilo (meaning 'ghost person' or 'foreign devil') may, or, as the term is so widely used, may not carry pejorative intentions. Certainly not everyone agrees with the latter, and Frank Ching, the well-known Hong Kong journalist, on more than one occasion has said he never uses the term and that to say it is not derogatory is to deny the obvious (Waters, 1995; 146). Nevertheless, a number of Westerners, especially British, use the term as a self-deprecating form of humour.
15
ing is as good as a session of aerobics. Cousins' book has become a classic.
It has been said that people laugh more in a warmer climate than they do in the cold north, which, up to a point is understandable. Open- ing your mouth too wide lets in the cold! But certainly, as we have seen, senses of humour can differ from the north to the south of Europe, and from country to country. They can also change considerably across Asia. There are differences even among the population of China, from one region or one sub-ethnic group of people to another. Many of the latter have their own dialects which, many insist, may be classified as separate languages in their own right. In China, jokes about politics often go down better in Beijing, the capital city of the country and the heart of Government; whereas Shanghai is the major commercial cen- tre in the People's Republic on the Mainland.
The People's Daily is purported to have quoted the Chinese joke about an alien being captured in China (HK Standard, 1998). In Shanghai, so it was written, they would dissect it for medical research. Beijingers, conversely, would send it to a museum as an educational exhibit, while the Cantonese, who eat anything whose back faces the sky and has four legs, except a table, would ask, 'which part of the creature can be braised in brown sauce?' Part- time comedian Brent Ambacher, long-time resident in Hong Kong, told the author that he had been unable to think of any similar jokes about Hong Kong people.
Quite rightly, making fun of people today because of their origins is usually frowned upon, as is the cracking of sexist and racist jokes. Many squirm at 'black hurnour' which is too close to the bone. Yet in Hong Kong the term gweilo (meaning 'ghost person' or 'foreign devil') may, or, as the term is so widely used,may not carry pejorative intentions. Certainly not everyone agrees with the latter and Frank Ching, the well-known Hong Kong journalist, on more than one occa- sions has said he never uses the term and that to say it is not derogatory is to deny the obvious (Waters, 1995;146). Nevertheless a number of Westerners, especially British, use the term as a self-deprecating form of humour.
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