Abstract:

It is generally agreed that China’s comedy creation falls behind the West and Chinese people are not humorous in regard to their cultural character. Effectively this is not true. Xiehouyu, as a unique linguistic form in Chinese, can be considered as the best embodiment of Chinese comic spirit. It is not only a kind of rhetoric, but also a subset of Chinese vocabulary system and a comedy style as well. The dominant idea that xiehouyu is composed of “introduction” and “explanation” is not exactly right. In fact, it contains three elements, that is, “introduction”, “explanation”, and the “pause” between them. Such a special structure of “introduction + pause + explanation” is typically comedic. In addition, it also functions as “vocabulary” and “rhetoric”. Thus, as a “lexicalized and productive supermini comedy” in the global language and culture system, it uniquely demonstrates Chinese comic spirit.