The Past of Chinese Humor Therapy

1. The Past of Chinese Humor Therapy • In traditional Chinese herbal medicine, emphasis is given to keeping balance of the mind and emotions, as such there has been a tradition in Chinese medicine to let different emotions overcome each other to cure a mental disorder. • The idea could trace as back as to about 3000 years ago.

2. Antagonistic Emotions Overcoming Each Other 反向情绪相克 • It follows the Taoiest philosophy of yin-yang balance. Psychologically, the antagonistic emotions would complement each other to achieve a homeostasis of one’s mood state.

3. Happy-Joy Therapy(喜乐疗法): the earliest form of Chinese humor therapy • The therapy originates in the first book of Chinese medicine “Huang Di Nei Jing” , by which it is believed that “joy overcoming worry(喜胜忧)”. Therefore, it is advisable to treat depressed patients with joyful or funny events. There are 4 major forms of humor therapy: - The comic therapy 戏谑疗法 - The Clown Show Therapy 滑稽疗法 - The redicule therapy 荒谬疗法 - The Happy Event Therapy 冲喜疗法

4. Happy-joy therapy(喜乐疗法): the earliest form of Chinese humor therapy • It is recorded that Mr. Zhang Zhong-jing, a master of Chinese medicine around 2000 years ago, used happy-joy therapy. He once gavea special prescription to a depressed patient: - use 2.5 grams of moxed wheat - make a big bun and steam it - cover it with red ink - finish eating at one meal The depressed patient followed the instruction but did not eat the bun. Instead, he hung it on the wall, looked at it everyday, and laughed each time he looked at it. Gradually, his depressed symptoms were relieved.

5. Happy-joy therapy(喜乐疗法) • In Yuan dynasty（1271~1368), Mr. Zhu Dan-xi (朱丹溪) proposed that joy could overcome sadness (“喜可以治悲), and advocated to use funny stories and languages to treat sadness ( 以欢乐戏谑之言娱之)( 《丹溪心法要诀》)。Specifically, the following were proposed: - read more comics and funny stories - attend more comic shows - listen more cross talks • The above acts would supposedly have therapeutic effects on depressed patients.

6. 1. The Comic Therapy 戏谑疗法 • The comic therapy attempts to relieve the depressed symptoms by putting on funny or humorous acts before patients. • It is recorded that in《儒门事亲·内伤形》, a ranking official learned one day suddenly that his father had been mudered lately. He was so saddened that he has cried for a month. Worse still, he discovered a lump on his chest and no medicine could remove it.When he finally invited Mr. Zhang Zi-he (张子和), a well-known doctor in Yuan dynasty, to come to see him, a female witch doctor was at present. • Dr. Zheng decided to imitate the witch doctor’s acts. This greatly entertained the patient such that he had to turn his face to the wall. Within days, his depressed systems were much relieved, and the lump was gone as well.

7. 2. The Clown Show Therapy 滑稽疗法 • The clown show therapy attempts to relieve patient’s depressed symptoms by simply watching clown shows. • It was recorded that in《儒门事亲·内伤形》that a woman got a special illness, she was very hungary, but could not eat. Instead, she would become angery easily and scream a lot. Dr. Zhang Zhong-he came to see her, she decided to get two women to dress like clowns and put on many funny acts before the patient for the first day. The patient laughed a lot. • For the second day, Mr. Zhang got the two women to eat a lot in front of the patient. The patient eventually decided to join the two women to eat, and her apetite has improved eventually.

8. 3. The Redicule Therapy 荒谬疗法 • The redicule therapy attempts to relieve the patient’s depressed symptoms by presenting rediculous facts to arouse laughters. • It is recorded in 《医苑典故趣拾》that in Qing dynasty that a male governor was depressed for quite some time. One day, a doctor came anf tested his pulse. Then, the doctor diagosed him as having period problem. The governor bursted into laughter at the rediculous diagnosis. • Moreover, each time the governor thought of the diagnosis, he would laugh. Gradually, his depressed symptoms were gone.

9. 4. The Happy Event Therapy 冲喜疗法 • The happy event therapy attempts to use happy events to help treat depressed symptoms, such as marrige. • It is recorded in 《程杏轩医案· 续录》that when Mr. Cheng Xing-xuan treated young, unmarried female patients, he would recommend them to get married. He argued that a good mood is as powerful as a good medicine(“ 可见情志之病药饵难疗”).

10. Features of Chinese Humor • Humor has been traditionally given little respect in Chinese culture mainly due to • The Confucian emphasis on keeping proper manners of social interactions. • Humor is often considered a show of intellectual and political shallowness, and is equated with social informality, improperness, and immaturity • Chinese humor has been mostly characterized by joke-telling and funny show-performing, but satire has never been popular.

11. Why Confucius Despised Humor - humor jeoperdizes social relations - humor upsets social formality

12. There is a cultural ambivalence toward humor in Chinese society such that on one hand, Chinese people are highly appreciative of humor; on the other hand, they all despise or even fear humor. • This appreciation-despise complex is what Chinese people need to be keenly aware of and to enhance humor in Chinese society. • Chinese people do need to enjoy humor after thousands of years of discrimination against it (Yue, 2006). Yue, X.D. (2006). The Chinese ambivalence to humor: A study among university students in Hong Kong , Paper presented at the 19 ISHS Conference, Salvegina University, New Port, RI, June 28-July 4, 2008

13. Comparison of important traits for Humor and Chinese Character Yue, X.D. (2006). The Chinese ambivalence to humor: A study among university students in Hong Kong , Paper presented at the 19 ISHS Conference, Salvegina University, New Port, RI, June 28-July 4, 2008

14. Comparison of important traits for Chinese Character and Humor Yue, X.D. (2006). The Chinese ambivalence to humor: A study among university students in Hong Kong , Paper presented at the 19 ISHS Conference, Salvegina University, New Port, RI, June 28-July 4, 2008

15. Rating of Humor and Self Humor Table 1: Rating of Humor and Self Humor by Hong Kong Students (n = 159) Note: *p<.05; **p<.01; *** p<.001. Yue, X.D. (2006). The Chinese ambivalence to humor: A study among university students in Hong Kong , Paper presented at the 19 ISHS Conference, Salvegina University, New Port, RI, June 28-July 4, 2008

16. The Present of Chinese Humor Therapy

17. Modern development of Chinese Humor • Chinese humor got a brief reneisance of about 20 years (1910-1930) after the downfall of the last feudal dynasty in China, the Qing Dynasty. • Chinese humor suffered another 30 years of underdevelopment in 1950-1980 under the influence of ideological puritanism after the founding of the PRC. • Chinese humor thrived greatly since 1980, and has been widely appreciated in everyday life. • Chinese humor therapy is still very much underdeveloped due to lack of communication.

18. 幽默疗法在当今的运用 • Dr. Li Pei-wen has been a pioner in the development of Chinese humor therapy, particularly in the cancer and tumor treatment. • 李佩文主持参加过多项国家科研课题，获得过多次国家及省部级奖励；他是国内中医界较早将心理幽默疗法、音乐疗法等引入肿瘤治疗的先行者。

19. Modern Humor Therapy in China • It is reported that Dr. Ruan Peng (阮鹏) and Dr. Ruan Hao-ran (2005) used humor therapy to treat chronic stomache patients. The following was done each day: - watch a comedy movie on every morning, afternoon, and evening; - read humor books, magazines; - let all nurses to smile as much as they can to the patients.

20. The Future of Chinese Humor Therapy

21. Future Direction for Chinese Humor Therapy • There should be more communication & exchanges about humor therapy between the Eest and the West. • There should be more laughter yoga and laughter exercises for Chinese humor therapy. • There should be more diversity in humor therapy in Chinese society. • There should be more participation into the humor therapy from the medical, educational, and psychological professions.

22. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-_LDDrvr5c http://www.plkesp.hk/

23. http://www.plkesp.hk/