From Overseas Press

Comedian Zhou Libo introduced to US

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-07-08 15:50

In Tuesday's Washington Post, Chinese comedian Zhou Libo, who won a huge following among Shanghai's prosperous bourgeoisie, was introduced to American audiences as a stand-up comic "who ribs officials, celebrates wealth and extols what he and many others in this most cosmopolitan of Chinese cities view as the superiority of their metropolis."

Undated file photo shows Chinese comedian Zhou Libo at a stand-up talk show.

The reporter was astonished to see Zhou mimicking the gait and gestures of Mao Zedong, China's founding father, on his show, and making cracks about China's most sensitive issues, such as the sky-high real estate prices and the gyrations of Shanghai's stock exchange.

"I want to make my audience think," Zhou said to the reporter. "China's political environment is a lot more relaxed than people outside think." Zhou delivers his gags in a mix of Mandarin and Shanghai dialect, which is almost indecipherable to outsiders.

In addition, the comedian often makes cracks about the immigrants who don't share Shanghai's sophisticated ways, and Zhou insisted that his audience is mostly white collar, and he knows "nothing about peasants. My culture is urban culture."

The Post story took note of the bubbling animosity between immigrants and natives in Shanghai, itself a city of immigrants. On Web forums, outsiders blasted Shanghai, ridiculing its "aboriginal" dialect. Natives, meanwhile, said there is no place for newcomers who don't show respect.

The comedian has sided firmly with the love-it-or-leave-it camp. "If you can't fit in, why come?" Zhou retorted during a talk show.

Huang Jianqiu, a designer in Shanghai, told the Post that he loves Zhou's performance because he "speaks about our lives and our problems." Huang said he wouldn't mind his daughter marrying a foreigner but would have "serious objections" if she fell in love with a peasant from Anhui, one of China's poorest regions and a major source of migrant workers in Shanghai.