RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m
212

LOÈS, Dr. Sabine de

WONG, Mr Kwok Fong

LOSEBY, Miss Patricia

LUK, Mr. George Ping-chuen

WONG, Mr Peng-cheong YEUNG, Mr Walter W.T.

LUM, Miss Ada

MACKENZIE, Mr. John

MACKEOWN, Dr. P.K.

MARDEN, Mrs. J.L.

MCCRARY, Mr. Michael

MCINTYRE, Mr. W.M.

MCKEIRNAN, Rev. Michael

NORONHA, Mr. J.E.

OGDEN, Mr. B.J.N. OU, Miss G.

PAIN, Mr. John H. PICCUS, Mr. R.P. RAE, Mr. John Allan RAWLINSON, Mr. M.C. RAYNER, Dr. Mary RIDE, Lady May RUST, Mr. H.A.

RYDINGS, Mr. H.A., MBE SEED, Mr. Brian SELLETT, Mr. George SERSALE, Miss Shelia M. SHAW, Dr Brian C.

SHAW, Mrs Felicity

SMITH, Rev. Carl. T. SMITH, Mr Leslie C. SPOONER, Mr Michael G. SU, Dr Chung Jen TAN, Mr Khek-seng TANG, Sir Shiu-kin, CBE TANG, Mrs Madeleine THOMAS, Mr Louis F. THOMPSON, Mr. P.J. THROWER, Prof. L.B. THROWER, Dr Stella TON CHEN, Mrs Chp-ching TORRIBLE, Mr Graham R. URE, Mr Gavin M.N, WATSON, Mr K.A.

WAUNG, Mr William Sikying WEINREBE, Mr Harry M. WERLE, Ms Helga WESLEY-SMITH, Dr Peter WILLIAMS, Mr Roger WILLIAMS, Mr Bernard V. WILLIAMS, Mr & Mrs W.D.F. WINKLER, Mrs E.

YOUNG, Miss Pauline

INSTITUTIONAL MEMBER

AGRICULTURE & FISHERIES DEPT. The Director

LOCAL ORDINARY MEMBERS

ABBOTT, Mrs Elizabeth Lee

ADDIS, Mr Stewart

ADDIS, Mrs Diana

AIKEN, Mrs Lorna

AKERS-JONES, Mr D.

ALLCOCK, Mr R.C.

ARCHER, The Hon. Mrs S.

ASHCROFT, Miss Jacqueline P. AUM, Mr K.N.

BARD, Dr S.M.

BARRETTO, Mr Ruy 0.

BATSON, Lt. Col. J.F.S. BEHRENS, Mr Ernst H. BERTRAM, Mr James BIRCH, Dr Alan BLAIKLEY, Mr P.E. BONAVIA, Mrs Judith E. BOWMAN, Mr S.A.W. BOWMAN, Mrs Dorothy BOYLAN, Mrs. Catherine BRAGA, Mr Paul BRAMWELL, Mr Hartley BRANDON, Miss Jacqueline N. BRAUN, Mr Francis BRAY, Miss Jennifer M. BROMFIELD, Mr A.C. BROMFIELD, Mrs Jeanne BROOM, Mr Michael B. BROUWER, Mrs R.P. BROWN, Mr Edward de R. BROWN, Mr Gerald H. BROWN, Dr H.O. BURNS, Dr John P. CAMERON, Mr Nigel

CAMERON, Mrs Susan

CAMPBELL, Mr Mark C.

CANTERS, Mr Rene

CAREY-HUGHES, Dr John

CENTRE OF ASIAN STUDIES
================================================================================
RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794
ARTICLES

LAUGHTER ACROSS THE GREAT WALL: A COMPARISON OF CHINESE AND WESTERN

HUMOUR

DAN WATERS

Good humour may be said to be one of the best articles of dress one can wear in society.

William Makepiece Thackery

With English cooking you boil the chicken, throw away the water and eat the chicken. With Chinese cooking you boil the chicken, throw away the carcass and drink the soup.

Anon.

Terminology and scope of paper

The word 'humour' harks back to the ancient Greek theory and early Middle-age English when health, disease and human emotion were associated with 'wet' qualities within the body. Depression was said to be brought on by an excess of melancholy, black bile, one of the 'four humours' comprising blood, yellow bile, phlegm and black bile. Black bile, it was believed, could be dispelled by laughter (Muir, 1990; XXVIII)(see Appendices A and B of this paper). It appears the equivalent of the word 'humour' (with a similar meaning) only existed in the English language and the word yau muk (you mo), meaning humour, did not exist in the Chinese language until it was introduced by the Chinese scholar, Lin Yutang, in 1924 (Chen Wangheng and Shu Jianhua 1993:10). Lin Yutang's writing is said to have been greatly influenced by George Bernard Shaw (Chen Wangheng and Shu Jianhua 1993:10).

...

Men and women have been chortling their heads off since prehistoric times. Shakespeare wrote (Twelfth Night, III, I): "Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun. It shines everywhere." Yet in spite of humour being infectious and an important part of everyday life, Dr
================================================================================