The Chinese as targets in Polish humorous discourse

Abstract

Abstract The paper discusses contemporary Polish humor which features references to Chinese language and culture. Together with the ideological, political, financial and economic visibility of China, its presence in Polish humorous discourse is on the rise. Jokes, cabaret sketches and visual materials, such as memes, more and more frequently use the Chinese as targets for entertaining the audience. The article will analyze the instances of Polish humorous discourse (largely Internet memes) to show which are the most frequent specific stereotypes about the Chinese and how that relates to Davies’s models of target choice. The results suggest that Polish humor about the Chinese as an untypical case of center-periphery relations constitutes an extension of Davies’s model in that Poles see the Chinese as both comically “stupid” and “clever”. The specific comic scripts evoked by the humorous material include not only that of cheap Chinese products, incomprehensible language or proverbs and unrecognizability of the Chinese people from other Asians (all considered scripts of a periphery), but also of the huge population and high sophistication of Chinese civilization (perceived as a center). Some of our humor material, however, is better explained using Davies’s monopoly-competition model due to references to authoritarian leaders.