Popular Expression in Chinese Standup Comedy

• In Event: Chinese Politics Mini-Conference: State and Society in Contemporary China

Abstract

As a cultural import, standup comedy has captivated China’s young people since the 2010s. Traditionally, standup comedy is understood as a site of cultural, social, and political critique delivered through humor, which can disarm people’s defensiveness and create a space for alternative views to be considered. In China, however, the party-state controls public discourse and Xi Jinping’s rule has seen collapsing arenas for public speech, setting up an interesting puzzle where intensifying political restrictions have coincided with growing outlets for cultural expression. So, how does standup comedy’s transgressive character transpire in the Chinese context? What is the implication for popular expression in an authoritarian context? Based on recent fieldwork consisting of participant observation at various comedy clubs in Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Shenyang, and Dalian and semi-structured interviews with comedians, club managers, and audience members conducted in Shanghai from May to July 2023, I examine the interactive forces of political power, capitalist interest, and traditional culture that both constrain and empower comedic expressions on socially and politically significant issues, such as gender norms, generational conflict, and work culture. By doing so, I situate political power in a late-socialist system of hierarchical yet mutually influencing forces to understand how politics trickles down to everyday public discourse and to uncover the complex relationships between popular desire and state rhetoric. Despite various constraints, standup comedy still allows alternative, sometimes subversive, views to be expressed. Its popularity with Chinese audiences indicates the cultural power of authenticity under current authoritarian conditions.

Author

• Dan Chen, University of Richmond