Chinese humor

One late Chinese writer once remarked that Chinese life is full of humor -even though it sometimes comes close to absurdity. He actually gained fame by writing stories with so-called dark humor. Life was tough in those years, but there was never a dull moment in his stories.

And this week’s Economist is full of similar stories. The article ’why China fails at football’ for example begins with a story:

The Budda tells the people he can fulfil only one of their wishes. Someone asks: “Could you lower the price of property in China so that people can afford it?” Seeing the Buddha frown in silence, the person makes another wish: “Could you make the Chinese football team qualify for a World Cup?” After a long sigh, the Budda says: “Let’s talk about property prices”.

I told this joke at dinner table with a Dutch investor and a Chinese entrepreneur/investor when the subject happened to be football. The Dutch investor laughed, but the Chinese investor was not amused- she has a fortune in properties and she thinks football is just a game. Perhaps she made a different wish to the Buddha.

positive frame of mind

One day when I rushed into the elevator of my flat I saw a neighbour holding a big basket of food and drinks.  After the elevator door closed, he just kept his eyes fixed on the food and remained silent. 

 ’So, it looks like you are having a big party!!’ In my positive frame of mind, I made a cheerful comment to liven up the atmosphere a bit. 

“No…unlukily it’s not true”, the man forced a smile,  but it was more like a chagrin. 

“Oh, come on, be a bit more friendly and positive”, in my mind I grumbled to myself, ”how hard is that?”.  

As if read my mind, the man looked into my eyes and said: “my little son passed away yesterday, so we have some family visits today. But it’s not a party.”. His words really struck me, and the sorrow in his eyes. How could I have missed that? I had so much sympathy for the man that I felt ashamed of the prejudice of my ‘positive’ frame of mind.