Mongolia

This week, for the first time, I successfully made a joke in Chinese.

With my Chinese friends, if I ever say something I think is funny, I have to explain in English why I said it. And by then, it’s definitely not funny anymore.

So, what I said definitely isn’t funny in English, but I can’t say “I told a joke” and not tell it. I’m not expecting you to laugh.

I was in a taxi and my driver was pretty cool. We talked about why I’m in China and what I like about it here. I told him that I really liked traveling in Inner Mongolia.

I asked him to clarify the Chinese names of Inner Mongolia, a province in China, and the actual country of Mongolia. The name for Inner Mongolia is like “Mongolia inside of China” and Mongolia is “Mongolia outside of China.”

When he said this, I smiled and he asked why.

Of course Mongolia is outside of China! Why not “USA outside of China” “England outside of China” “Saudi Arabia outside of China?” (Much more concise in Chinese.)

I think the driver laughed for a good minute or so.

I’m still laughing because China thinks it owns everything, including Mongolia, Genghis Khan, Mount Everest, Kazakhstan, the color red, and North Korea.