The Group Portrait: Pain Relievers

A new stand-up show offers Chinese feminists a space to joke about their troubles.

- Rong Xiaoqing

ONE SEPTEMBER AFTERNOON in a dim theater on the Lower East Side, an industrial designer named Susan Zhang was making a joke about sex toys. The ones in China are too quiet, she said: "It's as if your vibrator was telling you, 'Be like me; be a quiet, good Chinese woman." The show's name, "7," can be translated as "Women's Ideas" or "Good Ideas," and it has strong claims to both. As the only feminist-led, Chinese-language stand-up comedy open mic in New York, it has become a coveted monthly treat for Chinese students and professionals. Each show is sold out within days, and there's a waiting list for per