One of the most popular humor forms in China from the early 20th century to the present time is the verbal art of xiàngsheng 相聲, literally ‘face and voice’, indicating that the art form primarily involves facial expression and vocal skills. The name is often translated into English as ‘crosstalk’. Xiàngsheng is one of a large number of Chinese folk oral performance literature forms in the category of qǔyì 曲藝 (‘vocal arts’, or sometimes translated as ‘folk performing arts’). Westerners seeing xiàngsheng for the first time are usually strongly reminded of the classic American …