Funny business taken seriously at Beijing's new laughter club

An American living in Beijing, a city he calls 'too heavy', has started a laughter club that he hopes will draw Chinese as well as expatriates to comedy acts, funny movies and skits.

The Serious Laughter Club advertised in two local newspapers and met for the first time this month.

The club's founder, Patrick Sullivan, 50, said laughter should lift the spirits and health of normal people who had forgotten how to smile through pressures of everyday life, as well as of American expatriates still worried about fallout from the September 11 terrorist attacks.

'There's a lot of entertainment here, but it's not conducive to laughing,' said Mr Sullivan, who is corporate services manager with the Crown Worldwide Group moving company in Beijing.

'It's not Paris, city of love. It's not Sydney, city of beaches. It's not Rio, a place you think of as fun,' he said, looking out at people walking in their winter coats on a congested sidewalk.

He said club meetings were likely to include jokes, skits, hiring comedians or watching comedy movies. Eventually club members should learn to laugh like children. Successful participants would find the feeling of laughter comparable only to sex, he said, not laughing.

'Just because children are happy, they see funny things,' agreed Margie Hanam, prospective club member and Montessori teacher. 'When we become adults, we get stressed out and anxious over things we don't need to be.'