Drawing laughing forest

Author: Feng Menglong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The most beautiful sound in the world may be laughter. Laughter is the vibration of healthy nerves, the lively performance of cells, and the resonance of vigorous life force. Life is always chasing laughter. The steps of life pass by in a hurry, always expecting countless laughs. Jokes have existed since ancient times. The (Biographies) section of the Records of the Grand Historian contains the (Biographies) of people like Chunyu Kun and Dongfang Shuo, who were skilled at making jokes. However, before the Ming Dynasty, there were few books specifically collected for jokes. The reason is very simple: jokes, like colloquialisms, folk songs, and small tunes, were not considered part of high culture. The upper class merely laughed at them, while even the most knowledgeable scholars in the (folk) had little money to afford the cost of printing.
By the Ming Dynasty, the fate of jokes changed. Spoken jokes gained the attention of scholars. In addition to chess clubs, qin clubs, tea clubs, wine clubs, and poetry clubs, scholars also formed "joke clubs," which were places dedicated to exchanging and collecting jokes. Since jokes were cherished and passed down orally, though they were deeply rooted in the (folk), they still possessed elegance and were fully worthy of a place in literature. As a result, numerous joke collections emerged, with Feng Menglong's being particularly famous.
During the Qianlong era, a man with the alias "Game Master" reworked the and compiled it into a book called The Broad Jokes of the Forest of Laughter. In the late Qing Dynasty, Cheng Shijue of Pingjiang collected folk jokes and published a book also titled The Broad Jokes of the Forest of Laughter. The two The Broad Jokes of the Forest of Laughter books share some overlapping content but each has its own merits. The Broad Jokes of the Forest of Laughter became widely popular and was even used as a synonym for joke collections.
Jokes are full of wit and wisdom. Though considered a "minor art," they should not be taken lightly. Jokes can alleviate sorrow, dispel boredom, and break the monotony of life. They can also critique society, elucidate truths, and awaken the world.