A Chinese and a Taiwanese comedian walk into a bar ...

An Rong Xu for NPR. For Vickie and Jamie, comedy is an effective way to remind their audiences that the tense relationship between the two governments doesn't mean there should be tension between Taiwanese and Chinese people. On both of their comedy sets confronting the stereotypes Taiwanese people have of Chinese people. Vickie Wang: I grew up thinking that people in mainland China are not to be trusted, that they spit, and that they're really aggressive and they're not, like, polite and civilized like Taiwanese people. On the stereotypes Chinese people have of Taiwanese people. Most] Chinese people are also not allowed to work here, so there's no way for Chinese people to stay and live and work in Taiwan unless, like, you get married to a Taiwanese citizen. On the consequences of Jamie's comedy going viral, as a Chinese citizen who could face repercussions due to Chinese censorship. Ever since COVID started, I had Taiwanese friends on my Facebook feed who were saying things like, "Oh, yeah, they deserve it. These commies, they deserve a plague on their house." And I was so, so devastated to feel, like, oh my God, my people, who I'd like to think are generally decent, kind people, have so dehumanized this other population that they've never actually encountered.