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Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Middle Period China, 600-1300: A Critical Anthology book cover

1st Edition

Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Middle Period China, 600-1300 A Critical Anthology

Edited By Alexei K. Ditter, Xiao Rao Copyright 2027
202 Pages
by Routledge

This book is a critical anthology that showcases the rich tradition of comic literature from medieval China. Spanning jokes, satires, witty poetry, humorous anecdotes, anthropomorphic biographies, and comedy theatre, this collection provides readers with a unique glimpse into the humor and societal dynamics of Middle Period China. Expertly translated by leading scholars, the anthology features... Read more

Introduction: Humor in Middle Period China

Reading Humor in Middle Period China

PART ONE: MEDIEVAL FOUNDATIONS OF HUMOR (6TH–9TH C.)

1. The Earliest Extant Chinese Jestbook: Record of Tales that Crack a Smile (Qiyan lu 啟顏錄)

Alexei K. Ditter

2. Humor in Tang Poetry

Xiaojing Miao and Elizabeth Smithrosser

3. Humor in Tang Dynasty Poetry Anecdotes

Graham Sanders

4. Riddling Tales from Records of the Mysterious and Weird (Xuanguai lu 玄怪錄)

Sarah M. Allen

PART TWO: CONTINUITY AND INNOVATION IN THE COMEDIC REPERTOIRE (10TH–13TH C.)
5. Literary Jokes in “Remarks on Poetry” (shihua 詩話)

Xiao Rao

6. Humor and Laughter in Song Anecdotes about Chancellor Wang Anshi

Elizabeth Smithrosser

7. Excerpts from The Collected Sayings of Aizi (Aizi zashuo 艾子雜說)

Ronald Egan

8. The Politics of Humor in Anecdotes of Performers

Yung-chang Tung

Bibliography

Biography

Alexei Kamran Ditter (Ph.D., Princeton) is Professor of Chinese and Humanities at Reed College. He specializes in medieval Chinese literature, with research interests in entombed epitaphs, memory and commemoration, humor literature, and Tang dynasty narratives. In addition to publishing several articles, book chapters, and translations, he co-edited Tales from Tang China: Selections from the Taiping guangji (2017). He is currently completing a monograph titled Collaborative Remembering in 7th–10th century China and co-editing The Study of Medieval Chinese Entombed Epitaphs, an annotated anthology of translations.

Xiao Rao (Ph.D., Stanford) is currently Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests include anecdotal literature, cultural studies of laughter, and the intersection between religion and literati culture in Middle Period China. He is working on a monograph titled Tales of Wit and Enlightenment: Laughter and Buddhism in Middle Period China. His recent publications include “Humor under the Guise of Chan: Stories of Su Shi and Encounter Dialogues” (2022) and “Anomalous Writing as Memories of Trauma: War and Women in Hong Mai’s Yijian zhi” (2024).

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