“There was once a mountain, and on top of the mountain, there was a temple; and inside of the temple, there was an old monk and a young monk; and the old monk tells the young monk a story: “There was once a mountain, and on top of the mountain, there was a temple; and inside of the temple, there was an old monk and a young monk; and the old monk tells the young monk a story: “There was once a mountain, and on top of the mountain, there was a temple; and inside of the temple, there was an old monk and a young monk; and the old monk tells the young monk a story….’’”

My informant an international Chinese student.  He had heard this joke from his father, who, in turn, had heard it from his father.  He tells me it is a Chinese joke that his father had told him when he was young, but he presented it as a story, which is how this joke was also presented to me.  My informant kept a straight face and never cracked a smile or hinted in any way that this “story” was supposed to be even remotely funny.  So when the joke restarted itself with “There was once a mountain…” it caught be by surprise, and I found it funny.  In fact, I think because I was expecting more of a drama-type tale, the surprise made the joke funnier than it would have been if I had known it was a joke.  It is the trick of the joke that causes people to smirk.

When I asked my informant why his father had told him this joke, he told me that when he was a child, he had asked his father to tell him a story, any story, for his amusement.  His father decided to tell him this story/joke.  But unlike my experience, my informant had not caught on to the repetitive nature that compromises the majority of this joke, so he did not find it funny.  In fact, he thought that the story was getting somewhere.  According to my informant, there is no time or place for this joke to be told, but it is told in different versions throughout his hometown in Shanghai.  He believes that this joke is simply meant to tease younger kids by tricking them into believing that they are about to hear a tale of epic proportions but are instead deceived when they are told the same sentence over and over and over again.

I agree with my informant.  I think that this joke is simply meant to poke fun at a younger generation’s gullibility and naivety.  This joke is probably passed on as the young grow up and learn to tease the “new” group of the young.  It is easy to remember since it is just one line repeated until the consumer of the joke catches on.  There is slight humor in the assumption and anticipation of an arduous adventure-kung fu-esque tale that is quickly dismissed when nothing at all happens except for “an old monk [telling] the young monk a story…”