The extremes of Chinese media, plus Chinese internet humor

Sinica Podcast

Kaiser Kuo

Currentaffairs, Business, News, China Politics, Shenzhen, Chinese, Chongqing, China News, Politics, China, Culture, Sichuan, Hangzhou, Beijing, International Relations, China Economy, Chengdu, Film, Shanghai, Guangzhou

4.7 • 710 Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2011

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It seems to be the consensus among long-time China watchers that the Chinese media has become more radicalized over the last five years, with both online and traditional channels now feeding the public conflicting stories of both reflexive scorn for the status quo or patriotic jingoism. But how radical are things getting? And what are the limits to how much further they can go, or will be allowed to go on either side? This week on Sinica we look at two of the extremes. First up is a discussion between Jeremy Goldkorn and Brook Larmer, whose recent essay on Chinese internet humor for The New York Times looked not only at what is being said online but who is saying it and why. Then we look the other way, talking with journalist Christina Larson and Sinica-stalwart David Moser about the Global Times, a commercial newspaper under the auspices of the People's Daily so untempered in its nationalism that many consider the paper a government mouthpiece, with Christina Larson even comparing the publication to Fox News. Recommendations: Brook's NYT article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/magazine/the-dangerous-politics-of-internet-humor-in-china.html Stifled Laughter: How the Communist Party Killed Chinese Humor http://www.danwei.org/tv/stifled_laughter_how_the_commu.php Pi San's cartoons on NYT http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/10/30/magazine/26mag-chinese-animations.html?scp=2&sq=pi%20san%20china&st=cse ABC interview with Pi San and Jeremy http://www.danwei.org/featured_video/director_pi_san_on_his_his_yea.php Pi San's cartoons with English subtitles http://www.danwei.com/blowing-up-the-school/ http://www.danwei.com/kuang-kuang-and-the-38th-parallel/ Liu Xiaobo humor - The Lius I admire http://www.danwei.org/humor/the_lius_i_admire.php Lei Feng microblog http://www.danwei.org/humor/lei_feng_microblog.php Hoax dictionary entries (origin of the "Cao Ni Ma" slang) http://www.danwei.org/humor/baidu_baike_fake_entries.php Hu Ge spoof on group housing http://www.danwei.org/humor/ccav_on_group_housing.php China Digital Times Grass Mud Horse Lexicon https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2015/07/decoding-the-chinese-internet-ebook-2015-edition/ Christina's FP article http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/10/31/global_times_china_fox_news FP: Top 10 screeds in Global Times http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/10/31/the_top_10_screeds_in_chinas_global_times John Garnaut: Global Times - A cocktail of conspiracies delivered daily http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/a-cocktail-of-conspiracies-delivered-daily-20101217-190pb.html Hu Xijin's Weibo http://weibo.com/huxijin Peking Duck blogger on Global Times https://www.google.com/search?&q=site%3Apekingduck.org+%22global+times%22 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Seneca podcast, a more or less weekly discussion of current events in China.
0:14.2	I'm Jeremy Goldcorn, hosting today as Kaiser Gore is busy performing with his band, Chun Chiu.
0:19.8	Joining me today in the pop-up Chinese studios are
0:22.5	Drumroll, David Moza,
0:25.3	polymath, linguist, musician, and academic director
0:28.0	of CET Beijing Chinese Studies.
0:30.2	Hi, David.
0:30.7	Hi, I didn't bring my drum, but sorry about that.
0:33.1	Yeah, it's okay.
0:34.5	We also have returning to the show, Christina Larsson, a journalist who lives in Beijing, is contributing editor at foreign policy and also writes for other publications. Welcome back to Seneca, Christina.
0:46.3	Thanks, Jeremy. And we are very, very happy today to have Brooke Lama for the first time on Seneca, he writes for National Geographic and a range of other
0:55.3	publications. Welcome to Cynica, Brock. Thank you for having me, Jeremy. So our first topic today is
1:00.7	based on Brooke's recent piece in the New York Times about subversive humor. His article examines
1:06.7	two of the most interesting characters on the Chinese internet, cartoon director Pisan, and blogger, writer and activist Beifeng,
1:14.7	also known as Wen Yun Cha.
1:16.8	Brooke, why did you decide to write this article,
1:19.0	and why did you focus on these two characters?
1:22.3	I think that for many outsiders,
1:24.9	they're left with a perception of China as a kind of a humorless place.
1:29.8	And of course, those of us living here know that that's not true, and it hasn't been true
1:34.2	throughout Chinese history. I mean, even during the most kind of repressive imperial regimes,
1:40.7	I mean, there was the use of parody and satire was always a tool of the powerless.
	...

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