When a Chinese person tells a joke, it can be really confusing. A few years ago, Time magazine selected "You" as Person of the Year and included blogger Wang Xiaofeng as the only Chinese person in its honors list. For that type of recognition, a typical Chinese response would run like this: "I'm really honored to be chosen by such a prestigious publication. I'm just one of millions of bloggers in China. This honor belongs to all of them. I'll work harder to make China's blogosphere a wonderful platform for world peace and harmony."
But instead of such clichs, false modesty and nonsense, Wang wrote a vivid "account" of how he chanced upon Time's editor-in-chief and bribed him into giving him the honor. It was so hilarious and un-Chinese I decided to translate it into English for our Hotpot column (Read the article). I dithered for hours as to whether I should put an explanatory note at the end to the effect this was fictional and meant to be self-deprecating. With the note, I'd spoil the fun; without it, at least half the readers, I figured, would take it wrong. In the end, I opted for no note. (Our editors had the same hesitation for Hung's controversial column.)
I heard the Time editors in Beijing were really upset. Had they studied Wang's blog, they should have known he throws barbs at everything and everyone, which is what makes his writing so outstanding.
Sometimes we use sarcasm out of necessity. We don't say "You're bad" to mean "You're good" - or vice versa - just to be cool, but to circumvent certain constraints. At one time, Chinese intellectuals were so adept at this game that the ensuing riddles were a hundred times more complicated than the Da Vinci code. You had to read between the lines to detect the author's true intention. The only rules were unspoken rules. I see a lot of that in Chinese movies nowadays, where the messages are so layered you can get multiple interpretations - some contradictory.
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