The Show Must Go On

Last year, season three of “Rock and Roast”, a Chinese stand-up comedy contest, became the most popular variety show in China, and successfully brought audience attention to stand-up comedy, which is still a newly introduced comedy format in China. Li Yang, a female stand-up comedian and participant of the variety show, once said in an episode, “why men are able to be that confident while they are so ordinary?”. This question soon became viral on Chinese social media. Since her comments based on her experience of men harassing her, trying to establish a romantic relationship with her while acting in a completely rude and disgusting manner, raised much resonance within female communities. Nevertheless, many males felt that they were being insulted, and have been committing cyber-bullying to Yang. They sent dirty words in their comments, saying that she is only a “female pig”. Afterward, Yang keeps joking about gender issues, and gives other comments are “men are rubbish”.  This cyber-bully reached a climax when Intel reached out to her and have her on her ads last month, which eventually ends up with a boycott by male users and Intel has to retrieve the contract. The comedian herself has been carried a lot of anxiety and writes a long post on social media to apologize and stressing that she is only a comedian, but not one who wants to start a gender war.

Screenshot of Yang saying “why men are able to be that confident while they are so ordinary”
No one has anticipated that a simple stand-up comedy could irritate Chinese males to such an extent. There is no doubt that at first, because of the spread of the internet, her comments have been pulled out of the context of comedy and seemed to be a simple insult. Also, Yang has also mentioned that “I hate men but I still can not stop loving them” in her stand-up, but clearly those angry male audiences ignore that and believe that they are humiliated.
While they overreact to a stand-up comedy and distort its original meaning, the females, have been bearing with the portraits of gender norms and objectification in a traditional Chinese comedy skit, “小品(Xiao  Pin)”. Xiao-Pin is a short comedy performed on stage, usually broadcasted via TV channels during festivals, such as Spring Festivals and Lantern Festivals. Therefore the production of Xiao-Pin has to bear a lot of censorship, as it is a nationwide broadcast. However, under such censorship, we do not see respect for females, but instead tons of discrimination.
In 2018, a Xiao-Pin called “喜乐街(Happy Street)”, features a scene of body shaming. The female on the right with the slim body was called “goddess”, while the lady on the left was laughed at as her body shape and appearance and was called “女汉子(Female-Male)”, a negative word to describe women who seem to possess the personalities of females as the social norms. What’s worse, even in 2020, a Xiao-Pin called “开往春天的列车(The Train to Spring)”, features a famous Chinese Actress, Ni Ni. Despite the fact the actress is gorgeous, in the show, she was still mocked by her husband with his male friends that she looks like an angry goose. It is clear that no matter what a female exactly looks like, a woman’s appearance and body are always objects that men can mock.

Screenshot from “Happy Street”. The lady on the right is the “goddess” while the lady on the left is the “female-male”.

Besides these stereotypes, Xiao-Pin has also been signaling the women is at a lower hierarchy than men or is a possession instead of a human being. In Xiao-Pin “小棉袄(little cotton-jacket)”, there is a line saying that “you can marry my daughter if you pay her 20 Yuan”, clearly putting an equal mark between women and a purchasable object. Even worse, the program has been using a word such as “second-hand” to describe that daughter who had already had a relationship with others before, conveying a sense of virgin complex and using it as an insult. In Xiao-Pin “真情永驻(True Love Stays Forever)”, a lady asks to divorce with her husband simply because she felt guilty about her miscarriage and may make her husband’s family “绝后(jue hou)”, which means have no child to continue the heritage of her husband’s family. There is no doubt that in this narrative, women’s biggest responsibility is to give birth to a baby, and women who were not able to do that should feel ashamed. In this case, women are rather a container of future generations other than a human being.

Screenshot from “The Little Jacket”, where the father was saying the “20 Yuan” line.

While these Xiao-Pin are shown on a national TV channel on Spring Festival where every Chinese family gathers together to enjoy the show, it shows that everyone involved in the production agrees that the content is suitable and respectful to every citizen, therefore it is even more heartbreaking to see that women are not earning their respect at the least extent. Not to mention how those settings will hurt all women who have similar experiences, such as being body-shamed or miscarriage. It is even more dangerous as it broadcast all these conservative social values and expectations to women themselves, and to the husbands or boyfriends as an example to treat the female around them.

Considering this context, it is actually not surprising to see why some men are being so angry about Li Yang. They have been used to enjoy the privilege in daily life, and enjoy hearing the comedy placing them on the higher hierarchy of gender for such a long time. Therefore the voices of women are just simply terrifying and intolerable. However, before they cyberbully a comedian, have they ever taken one second to simply reflect on themselves? Did they realize that some of their actions are harassment instead of showing love? Have they really been acting respectfully to their wives, friends, and family? The answer is negative, otherwise, the cyber-bully would not be happening. Nevertheless, it is still precious that Chinese female comedians have taken the step to tell the story of females and make their voices heard. No matter how hard it is, the show must go on.