it has taken me a while to appreciate cell phones. at best, i find the use of cell phones disconcerting, as when people walk down the street in conversation with invisible interlocutors. at worst, i find them intrusive and an excuse for poor manners. i especially detest texting messages, a practice that many of my friends pursue with gusto.

lately, however, i find myself unexpectedly charmed by the cell phone. as with e-mail, folks forward jokes and other bits of information to those in their calling circles. it turns out that some of the jokes are not only genuinely funny, but also bitingly satiric. like rumors, these anonymous messages are not factually true, but instead capture something of the ethos of an era. indeed, the humor seems to stem from hyperbole. nothing could be that extreme, but then again… usually, know as 段子 these jokes take the form of coupled rhymes that are easily remembered and, of course, passed on.

a recent example composed of 4 seven-character parrallel couplets(very loosely translated):

党出烟咱出肺，为了国家多增税

党出酒咱出胃，繁荣经济不怕罪

党出小姐咱陪睡，传染性病报药费

党出贪官咱行贿，你说革命累不累

(the party provides the smokes, we supply the lungs
all to increase the country’s tax revenues;

the party provides the booze, we supply the guts
in a flourishing economy, it’s okay to get drunk;

the party supplies the women, we go to bed with them
we’re spreading stds, then make insurance claims;

the party provides corrupt officials, we supply the bribes
who says revolution isn’t exhausting work?)

shenzhen