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.