They don’t know what they’re permitted to say. Not even after the state has reviewed the jokes. If somebody online gets offended by a wisecrack, a comedian may get in big trouble even if the Chinese Communist Party censors said it was okay to say (“Inside the Slippery World of Stand-Up Comedy in China,” Worldcrunch, October 9, 2024).
In May 2023, a comedian called House (Li Haoshi) joked about two stray dogs during a performance at the Laughing Fruit Culture Factory in Beijing. He said that their “squirrel-chasing antics reminded him of the phrase, ‘good style, capable of winning wars.’ This phrase came from a 2013 speech by Xi Jinping, in which he praised the People’s Liberation Army for being ‘obedient to the Party, capable of winning wars, and possessing an excellent work ethic.’ The slogans have since been associated with the Chinese military.”
An hour after his act, a complaint appeared on the Weibo social media platform slamming it as an insult to the People’s Liberation Army, which has delicate sensibilities.
The very next day, May 14, 2023, the Laughing Fruit Factory venue in Beijing was inspected by various government departments, followed by an official investigation of Laughing Fruit Culture by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism. That same day, the company issued a statement apologizing and said it had already reprimanded House.
By May 16, House’s personal social media accounts were banned, and on May 17, the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau announced that it had opened a criminal investigation into House for “serious insult to the People’s Armed Forces.”…
As the backlash unfolded online, most people overlooked the fact that House’s material had been pre-approved. In accordance with regulations, Laughing Fruit had submitted both a video of House reading his script and a printed copy of the performance to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism. The same routine approval process that allowed the show to proceed was now under scrutiny, leaving stand-up comedians in a precarious situation: Official approval no longer guaranteed safety.
One depressing aspect of the incident is that Laughing Fruit Culture Factory felt obliged not only to apologize—for what, exactly?—but also to “reprimand” one of its associate comedians.
Blanket censorship is bad for comedy even if the comedian knows exactly what jokes and lines he may and may not utter, what topics he may and may not broach, with anything seriously challenging the totalitarian state and its cultural and social props forbidden.
But now, says comedian Liu Chengdong, doing comedy is “like walking through a minefield.” One complicating factor is that every city has its own special rules. “You never know exactly what might get you in trouble…. One wrong step and you’re done.” No joke.
