ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that traditional Chinese medicine identifies seven kinds of emotions (joy, anger, worry, happiness, sadness, fear, and terror) as normal human expressions and advocates them to be complementary rather than contradictory to each other. As such, it calls for xin ping qi he 心平氣和 in one’s emotional regulation, i.e., to keep a calm mind so as to obtain a peaceful disposition. This means the Chinese should try to be even-tempered to become good-humored. Ancient Confucian teachings and Chinese classic medicine have caused the Chinese to have unique cultural attitude toward excessive emotional expressions. Besides, Chinese culture is strongly collectivist, authority-oriented, and relationship-focused. Consequently, the Chinese have adopted interdependent and holistic approaches to social harmony, and have eschewed frivolous emotional expressivity. To understand the Chinese approach to humor, one needs to recognize the Chinese traditional medicine’s emphasis on moderating different emotions. The studies reviewed above provide empirical evidence to importance of performing benevolent talks and avoiding shame while joking. After all, maintaining moderate mood and elegant laughter has been central to Confucian ethics for social formality and proper personal conducts.
