This is off-topic, but one of my favorite essays in English that deals with Chinese culture is this one by David Moser on Chinese "stand-up comedy": http://www.danwei.org/tv/stifled_laughter_how_the_commu.php

This essay, alongside a post on Quora by Dashan, one of the most famous foreigners in China for his frequent appearance on Chinese TV, sheds light on aspects of a traditional Chinese performance art that many native Chinese may not have a clear idea about. Dashan's Quora post is linked from the first comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5117473