I think there are 2 biggest differences between them. First, people in china who have sense of humor are much less than that in U.S.A. cuz of the different culture. In china a young man usually doesn't show too much of his sense of humor when he is at work or talks to his boss, his leaders or the old... even when he talks to his parents,,, he is not used to showing his sense of humor. Why? cuz if he did it, he would often be considered not to be polite or respect that kinds of people who should be respected, sometimes he will make himself misunderstood too. So in many situations Chinese dare not to show their sense of humor and they are not used to showing it ,either . In china, u may find people between the young people or some of the colleagues or classmates maybe show their sense of humor freely, but in most of the situations they seldom show their humor. Secondly, American show their humor more directly than Chinese.The reason is almost the same as the above. What is more, humor between chinese in the north and in the south is also quite different. Most people from the north of china like to show their humor by languages (it can be proved by the serials <东北一家人>)which are quite the same as Americans, but most people from the south of china usually show their humor by body languages(it can be proved by the serials <外来媳妇本地郎>). In a word, maybe all the Chinese like sense of humor very much, but they seldom show it, not so often as American do. ha ha ha... i like to chat to the persons who have sense of humor very much. Dan, i taught u some Chinese last time, very happily. Do u still remember me?

um...it depends to friends, we (maybe young people) also do what you described as American-humor, for example, my friend is a little short, we often make fun of that, but of course, she wont mad at us. what is more, i really like to watch American comedy movies or serials, such as friends, lucky you...and so on. therefore, i guess there is no barrier to understand american humor for me, at least on the other hand, to some one we dont know much about, we will just be nice and polite and sth. like that. to sum up, i do think that, there is no difference between American and Chinese humor, the different may be the sense of finding humor or funny things

I think Chinese and American humour is quite similar in many respects, most Chinese fail to understand British humour the way many Americans do- which suggests people of both nations aren't generally that cynical. The Chinese are probably more sarcastic than American's (I've met and to generalise), but Chinese people seem to like observational humour quite a lot. Chinese people are always making jokes (at least my friends are), although you should be careful not to make someone lose their face, which can be a fine line as a foreigner if you don't know the people you're talking to that well, and want to drop an ice breaker bit of humour in.

well, I can professional Chinese joker, lol, I often find western ppl dont understand my jokes.. the most heavy element in Chinese humor is letting the opposition to judge if its funny, for example, I will say somethings very ridiculous in very serious manner, but western often try to believe it and impressed by it while Chinese laugh at it. The more advanced level is saying things betwwen real and ridiculous in serious manner, thus the opposition will find they are fooled later when they discover. Anyway, very important thing in Chinese humor is letting other ppl judge, while in American humor, ppl raise eyebrows , or use tones or gestures to indicate its a joke, ,, I find thats not funny, I feel its my duty rather than my willness to laugh cause if I fail to laugh, you know what I mean, but in Chinese humor, everything is under-surface, face is just mask, but when the funny moment come, ppl dont cover it and its very natural. I love Chinese humor.

mmm...i think it's not only culeture , history , habit ,but also different people