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than to further convince ordinary Chinese people that China
is misunderstood and that the Western world is antagonistic
towards China and resentful of China’s development. What
use is that?
As someone commented, "Looking at western media and
literature, we see a trend for the most subversive and anti-
China stances being the most popular." That is true. I would
say that Dashan is a pop culture figure, not an underground
artist I work in the mass media, like all pop culture figures in
China do. If that means Dashan doesn't suit this trend in the
western media, that's too bad.
stereotyping
The assumption that Dashan is a performing monkey. Peter
Hessler is one of my favorite American writer of books on
China, but he did a real hatchet job on Dashan in his book
“River Town” where in the same passage he admits that he’s
never seen any appearances, but then concludes that Dashan
is a performing monkey. There was no justification or explanation
given.
I do understand where this perception comes from, and
it's closely linked to the comedic formula I described in part
2c. Successive comedic skits in which Dashan consistently
"showed up" his Chinese teacher led us to explore more and
more ways in which my character could exceed the teacher's
(and hence the audience's) expectations. This led to a formula
under which Dashan was constantly being tested for
his knowledge of Chinese culture or skill in the Chinese language,
and typically ends with the same conclusion: Teacher
says, "Wow, I can't believe it," and the audience applauds.
However, I think to label this as being a "performing monkey"
is an oversimplification that reflects a particularly Western
bias and that doesn't stand up to serious analysis.
The bottom line is that the performances are designed for
a Chinese audience. To be a successful comedian, you have
to have a clear understanding of audience perception, even
if you are making an ass of yourself. You have to understand
why audiences are responding to your material. In over twenty
years of performing, I have never felt that the Chinese audience's
approach to Dashan is: "This guy is a funny monkey;
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