Actor sees the funny side of jests made online
Print Edition
Jackie Chan might still be popular around the world, but in China these days the actor is as well-known as fodder for jokes as he is for his gritty martial arts and slapstick humor on screen.
His latest contribution to the country’s mass culture and entertainment: duang.
It’s not a word, but a sound he made in an old TV commercial meaning something like “ta-da!” A new mash-up video of the old ad has made duang a trending topic on China’s social media.
Though the tone of the phrase is more derisive than fun, Chan has been a good sport.
“It’s quite funny,” he told reporters in Beijing this week.
Chan used the sound in a 2004 infomercial to sell shampoo. In the ad, he maintains there was no duang — or special effects — to make his hair look blacker, shinier and softer, but that the shampoo itself was responsible. Authorities later ruled that the commercial made false claims, and Chan’s reputation suffered.
The word duang has become one of the hottest expressions in Chinese cyberspace, and parodies of Chan’s shampoo endorsement are spreading online.
Someone has even proposed a Chinese character for the sound by overlaying the two characters of Jackie Chan’s name, though modern Chinese does not officially incorporate new characters.
Jokes suggesting slyness and snobbery on Chan’s part have surfaced one after another in China’s cyberspace over the past several years. When his son, Jaycee Chan, was arrested on drug charges last year, the public gloated, pointing out the irony that the father has served as China’s anti-drug ambassador.
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