Joking about her abusive husband launched this Chinese comedian to stardom. The authorities aren’t laughing

Fan Chunli, with her short hair and unpretentious clothes, looks every bit for a middle -aged woman from rural China. One of China’s most popular stand-up comedy competitions stands out among a young crowd competing to become the next breakage star.

However, when he gets a 50 -year -old microphone, jokes with life and sarcastic, who brings the audience to a mixture of laughter and tears, emptied jokes.

From a place that knows how to use the internet, “Making me into the Elon Musk of my village” Fan, the latest sensation in China’s exploding scene for the stand-up comedy offers an exit for Pent-up complaints in a country, a country that prevents the open debate of politics or society.

However, Fan’s Acerbic seized patriarchy and domestic abuse, and worried some officials in China that women’s rights remained a sensitive issue. The ruling communist party trying to increase birth rates and prevent an approaching demographic crisis Calling women to adopt traditional gender roles. He forced the newly emerging feminist movement, which the country thought it had a malicious Western influence.

During the performance that hit him at the beginning of this month, the fan left naked nonsense faced by many victims of violence in the country.

He said he was beaten by his ex -husband. However, when he told his family that he wanted a divorce, his father warned him not to bring shame to the family.

“When men are involved in domestic violence, they are not embarrassing. When women demand divorce, they are embarrassing,” he said, cheering during his performance in the stand-up comedy, a popular contest published by the online platform IQiyiyi.

Fan’s performance seems to be upset by at least one local government.

As the images of the routine became viral last week, the officials in the Eastern province Zhejiang said that such jokes were “catalysts provoking the gender conflict.

The expression did not directly name the fan or the show directly, including the new arrivals called “Industry Jewelery, – the name given to him by the judges of the show.

The local government’s promotional department wrote about the Chinese social media platform WeChat, “The content of some talk shows simplifies gender problems and repeatedly creates a confusion about the opposition between men and women.

Any debate about gender issues should be “rational ..

The average woman is not a comedian

The Chinese government has broken feminist activism in the last decade. Most importantly, a group of women, known as “feminist five, were arrested in 2015 after planning protests on public transport against sexual harassment.

However, as the authorities allow slight-tempered discussions on social media, films containing feminist themes continue to scan smoothly-unless they mean a call for action.

However, the Fan’s history – not good or highly educated – contributes to the official unrest on its popularity and may add an extra layer of review.

Meng Bingchun, a professor of communication investigating feminism at the London School of Economics (LSE), said, not one of the typical urban liberal elite feminists, but a middle -aged woman from a rural past. ”

“And this shows that this kind of discontent and complaint about gender problems and traditional Confucian, patriarchal values are more common than they are willing to accept (authorities),” CNN said.

Traditional social codes can sometimes be as rigid as the dictat of any government. At the end of last year, the Chinese e-commerce giant JD encountered a boycott by customers who were infuriated by the breakdown of Trailblazing female comedian Yang li in a promotional live stream.

Apparently, those who manage the action were still stung by Yang’s signature Quip five years ago and the mediocre men are as follows: “How does it look so average, but still seem confident?”

The company, which bowed the online reaction, apologized and broke the ties with Yang.

‘He fell into the trap’

The fan never described himself as a feminist. However, in an article in the online platform Weibo, he wrote that leaving behind the social restrictions of rural life can lead to “awakening of women ..

“For example, when I said I want to divorce in my village, I think I am seeing a bad guy who is not,” he wrote.

“But when I talk about my divorce outside, the audience applauds.”

He moved away from the big cities of China and said he had not received official training until the age of 8. But this soon ended after Junior High.

When the opportunities went to men, he grew up in a period, recalled that he had received a job in a city before marriage and that his mother had delivered all the money he sent to his brother.

“Girls growing up in rural villages have no right to inherit anything. Not home. Not land, San Sanlian said. “Then I just wanted to get married.”

However, after marriage, “family and marriage has fallen into the trap, made it impossible for them to make money,” he said.

For the fan, life before the Stand-up was cleaning in a vague village in Shandong state in northeast of China.

Stardom began with an unexpected bending.

In 2023, he remembered that the media reported to the last meeting and sold his jewels to see a performance of Idol.

In the show, it had to be roasted during a improvement segment, but Fan’s rapid intelligence answers impressed the artist who decided to introduce Fan trade.

Drawing from Life

When it comes to divorce, the fan had been thinking about him for more than twenty years.

“I was already thinking of divorce when my eldest daughter was born, San Sanlian said to Sanlian.

The mother of the two described her ex -husband as a gambler, leaving her absence only to look at her patient father -in -law. He also had fun in his rude attitude, saying that he ate Congee, a popular Chinese rice puree, directly from the bucket.

Once his ex -husband and his father beat him so badly that his face was covered with rotten. He ran home to tell his family that he wanted a divorce, and he would be deterred by his mother, who only told him to leave if he had only one relationship.

The last straw caught that he had taken his husband to a bucket once again with Congee one or two years ago. “This time,” he remembered, “I leave without looking back.”

Until then, the fan had taken a floor in comedy performance with the nests in local comedy clubs. After leaving her husband, he decided to make a real shot on Stand-up to allow him to accept both of his two house.

During his viral performance, innocent went on his own roasting of his ex -husband, whom he called “Corgi ,, because of his tiny height.

“How difficult for a rural aunt to come to the city for the first time?” he asks.

Then he thought about his terrible situation.

“I looked at my husband next to me and I thought ‘I’m not afraid of this challenge’.”

In addition to his marriage, he opened other taboo issues for Chinese women, such as mysterious biological realities.

Unlike many retired women who have retired when they stop by note of the newly transmitted late life star-“My menopause will come with my first exit.” He said.

Continuing

The fans of CNN are based on the rising female comedy scene in China and return to the warning of Zhejiang officials against the “gender opposition”.

Zhang Yuanqi said that he watched Fan’s show with his mother, who left a abusive house ten years ago.

He said that comedians like a fan did not try to confuse ‘gender opposition’, they transform their experiences of life into jokes only ”.

“What we want to hear is our own lives,” he said.

Huang Xueyao, a 21 -year -old university student, said, ım I started to wonder if my mother holds them and thought that she had similar concerns, as she thought she should handle them alone. ”

Fan touched on the problems that women face every day, and added that he could not understand the warnings of the local government. “They tell us to stop. What’s really behind the authorities thinking?” He added Huang, who said that he hopes to perform his mother personally.

Meng from LSE said that the Chinese government is struggling to understand this new form of entertainment, which can explain its cautious approach, but it is not possible to have more consequences on the fan of the warning from the Zhejiang officials.

As of Sunday, Fan’s Weibo account remains active (a disabling, one of the first signs that an artist has fallen into China’s censorship) – but even though railings have been removed against the covered official warning.

For the rising artist, comedy is more than a new career, but also a way to get catharsis.

Fan Sanlian’a, “Stand-up comedy since I started to make the biggest change in me, my old husband’s movement no longer get angry,” he said.

“There is a sense of reconciliation.”

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