I wonder why few people deliberately misunderstand an American comedian. If every joke or parody on Saturday Night Live was accompanied by a disclaimer, it would be unthinkable. The reason could partly be the context. Because Chinese are not known for humor and satire, our double entendres must be taken at face value. Because China Daily is a "serious" newspaper or "poker-faced mouthpiece", a humorous piece in the Life section is tantamount to an editorial. Because Chinese writers shift tones from piece to piece, you cannot tell when they are being serious or when they are being ironical.
In a sense, it is just like making a food choice. As satire is considered more an American than a Chinese art form, does it make me less Chinese if I embrace it? Does it turn me into a pale imitator, or shanzhai version, as we term it in Chinese?
I once wrote a defense of Zhang Ziyi dating non-Chinese men (Read the article). If I had adopted the usual commentary style, it would have boiled down to just one sentence: She has a right to date whomsoever she wants.
But my message would have been lost in cyberspace. So, instead of espousing the obvious, I adopted comic irony. I argued Zhang should marry only a Chinese man because she could help solve one 20 millionth of the country's gender imbalance. Fearing my sarcasm was not obvious enough, I ended up saying Zhang should not marry anyone, but put herself on a pedestal and declare herself a chaste goddess.
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