Which nation in China and Japan is more humorous?

1) In terms of cultural origins, Chinese culture has had a profound impact on Japan and South Korea, but I don’t know whether Chinese humor has been inherited by these two nations, or whether they have developed their own humorous discourse system and expression? (Please give an example)

——Chinese culture has a profound influence on Japan in general, but relatively speaking, in ancient China, the humor factor in the culture does not seem to be very developed. Although the joke collection "Laughing Forest" appeared during the Three Kingdoms period, it was not until the Qing Dynasty that a mature satirical novel like "The Scholars" appeared. Modern Japanese literature (the three hundred years before the Meiji Restoration) can be said to be humorous literature in a broad sense. A considerable number of them make fun of Chinese cultural classics, such as "Tong Shi Xuan Xiao Zhi" ("Crazy Poems") in "Selected Poems of the Tang Dynasty", "Wandering the Prostitutes Egg Corner" and "The Analects of Confucius" in the Four Books and Five Classics. Town" ("Saluoben") and so on. In addition, there are also poetry styles full of wit, humor and irony such as Kuangge, Haikai and Chuanliu, forming a unique humorous discourse system and expression. In modern times, humorous literary works such as Natsume Soseki's "I am a Cat" and "Brother" have become almost household names. In our country, perhaps only Qian Zhongshu's "Fortress Besieged" can rival it, and this is much later in time. Therefore, at least in terms of humor, it is difficult to say how much influence Japan has from China.

2) Due to the different geographical environments between China, Japan and South Korea, there are many differences in their living habits. Such differences will have different specific connotations for their expressions of humorous content. These specific Will the connotation hinder other ethnic groups from understanding its humorous connotation?

——It seems that there are not many Chinese so-called "dirty jokes" in Japan. As far as literary works are concerned, perhaps because they are more refined and have strong literary popularity, there is basically no humor that we cannot understand. For example, talking about beautiful women - of course Japanese men often make fun of women - Mishima Yukio said that beautiful women must die twice: the death of beauty and the death of body. The first time is a truly terrible death, and after death, " "Original Beauty" and "Beauty Site". Another example is when Kenji Tsuchiya, a philosophy professor at Ochanomizu University, questioned a Japanese woman who claimed to only love Taro and would never love other men such as Jiro Saburo and others. He asked: If Taro becomes like a frog, can you continue to love her? Can't? Or if it becomes a four-legged table, your love will remain the same? Also, many people know that Haruki Murakami is very humorous, and there is nothing about his humor that cannot be translated or understood. Here are two examples: "Poor hotel! It's as pitiful as a three-legged hotel soaked by the cold December rain. The dog/man glanced at the Disney watch on my wrist with the eyes of a veterinarian looking at a kitten’s injured forelimb.” From this point of view, the humor style and connotation are somewhat different, but they do not constitute an obstacle to understanding. Of course, tongue twisters and the like are another matter, and the literal translation of that thing does not mean it is a tongue twister at all.

3) Due to different traditions or different historical deposits, the culture of each nation will have a great impact on the value orientation of the citizens in it, and of course it will also have a great influence on the citizens’ attitude towards life. Big impact. The premise of humor is optimism. Chinese people have always had the tradition of "happy-hearted and optimistic". I wonder if Japanese and Korean people have an optimistic attitude towards life, and is there any cultural support for it?

——The Japanese are deeply influenced by Buddhism's "non-dwelling" and "impermanence view", and their attitude towards life and life seems to be closer to optimism than optimism. In terms of feelings and aesthetics of external things, they often have sentimental and desolate connotations such as "loneliness" and "boring". Perhaps because of this relationship, most of their humor is relatively restrained, and it is a quiet sense of humor that slowly oozes from the bottom of the heart. It rarely makes people laugh, and the stories rarely have a lively and festive color. and a "happy" ending. The general feeling is that in daily life, most Japanese people are not as funny as Chinese people. They are so busy cutting mountains and seas, especially when working, they rarely tease.

4) Humor is a kind of wisdom, presented through language.

In China, there is an art form like cross talk that is sublimated and displayed. I wonder if there are art forms like Chinese cross talk in Japan and South Korea to convey humor. What are their forms of expression and what is special about them?

——Japan also has cross talk, called "mancai". One person speaks more often, and it is not as popular as in China. As for what’s special about it, I don’t know because I don’t understand it.

5) The Chinese have a saying, "Smile and you will be young in ten years." The purpose is to illustrate the importance of adjusting your mentality. Only with such a mentality can you become humorous. In today's Japan and South Korea, life is full of pressure. What is people's mentality towards life?

——There seems to be no such saying in Japan: "Smile and you will be less than ten years old." To put it more extreme, the Chinese pay more attention to the strength and length of life, while the Japanese pay more attention to the tension and instant expression of life. Therefore, the former appreciate plum blossoms more while the latter prefer cherry blossoms. The former can afford to build the Great Wall and Dunhuang Grottoes, but the latter does not have the patience. At this point, China seems to need more daily public humor in order to relax among everyone's laughter, while the Japanese tend to separate humor elements from concentrated pressure alone. At least on the surface, the Japanese don't smile as much as the Chinese.

6) Japan’s animation industry is extremely developed. I wonder what status humorous cartoons have in the hearts of its people? Likewise, what is the situation with humor comics in South Korea?

——Japanese newspapers publish cartoons (political satires) almost every day. From Koizumi, Abe to Bush, everyone except the emperor can be included in the drawings. Sometimes there are also "Kawaryanagi" similar to Chinese doggerel, published in to ridicule social phenomena and express dissatisfaction. Some popular and entertainment magazines have comics (caricature) columns, such as "Edo Romance Test", which show the humor in the love affairs between men and women. Japan has been relatively open about sexuality since ancient times. However, in today's life, people are not as casual about making jokes in this regard as the Chinese are, unless they drink to a certain extent.

7) Relatively speaking, which nation do you think is more humorous, China, Japan, or South Korea? What are the reasons for this situation?

——I think Chinese people, especially northerners in China, are more humorous. Take Zhao Benshan for example. In fact, almost everyone in the Northeast is Zhao Benshan. As for the reasons, I think there are at least three. First, Chinese people have a mainland character, they are more open-minded and open-minded, and rarely have a "petty attitude" - it is difficult for people who are calculating and calculating all day long to be humorous. Second, some Chinese people have more time, or their lives and work are not as stressful as the Japanese. Humor is an art, and art is essentially the stuff of the leisured classes. How can people who go to work early in the morning and come back from overtime after nine o'clock have any sense of humor? The third is related to the characteristics of the Chinese language. Chinese has one word per sound, which makes it easy to rhyme and have a strong sense of rhythm, and sentences can be arranged neatly. In other words, Chinese has the innate advantage of making jingles and witticisms. In addition, Chinese people are talented in language, so it is relatively easy to make humor. However, it seems to be lacking some elegance at the moment, which means that the taste of humor needs to be improved. Humor in literary works also has a bit of a ruffian flavor. Let alone Qian Zhongshu, even humorous novels like those written by Zhang Tianyi are extremely difficult to find, for some reason.

(Interviewer: "People's Daily" reporter Xu Huiguan)

My note: Lin Shaohua: native of Penglai, Shandong, born in Jiutai, Jilin in 1952. After graduating from junior high school in 1968, he went to work in the countryside. He graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages ??and Literature of Jilin University in 1975, majoring in Japanese. In 1982, he graduated from the Graduate School of Jilin University and received a Master of Arts degree. From 1982 to 1993, he taught at the Department of Foreign Languages, Jinan University. From 1993 to 1996, he taught at Nagasaki Prefectural University, Japan. In 1996, he returned to teach at the School of Liberal Arts, Jinan University. In 1999, he was transferred to Qingdao Ocean University. In 2002, he went to the University of Tokyo as a special professor. Fellowship, currently a professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Ocean University of China, recruiting graduate students in Japanese literature and translation. His major works include "Haruki Murakami and His Works".

It has translated 25 volumes of Haruki Murakami's collected works, including "Norwegian Wood" and "Kafka on the Shore", as well as more than 35 works by famous artists such as Natsume Soseki, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Kawabata Yasunari, Inoue Yasushi, and Higashiyama Kaii. Among them, "Road to Tangzhaoti Temple" won the first prize of the 5th National Foreign Literature Outstanding Book Award (2001), and "Norwegian Wood" won the second prize of the 2002 Shanghai Excellent Book Award. At the same time, he has written more than 20 academic papers on the comparison of Chinese and Japanese ancient poetry and the study of modern Japanese literature