Below is a translation of a joke that is currently being circulated widely on Sina Weibo and other Chinese social networks:
There is a village that only has one restaurant. Everyone in the village has to eat at that restaurant.
Villager: Why can’t we have more than one restaurant?
Waiter: Our village is in a stage of development where more than one restaurant can lead to chaos, so we only have one restaurant.
Villager: But the food here is really not good!
Waiter: Our restaurant has only been developing for a short time. Even if the food tasted worse than this, at least it’s our own food!
Villager: But can’t it be a little cheaper?
Waiter: That would not suit the conditions of our village; the restaurant also needs to develop.
Villager: But the employees of the restaurant are all driving Mercedes Benz cars!
Waiter: To ensure fair and uncorrupt staff, you need to pay them high salaries.
Villager: But last year, you lent all the profits of the restaurant to another village.
Waiter: This is the village policy, you don’t need to worry about it.
Villager: I heard that the guy in charge of purchasing took all the money for buying vegetables and ran away to another village.
Waiter: That type of employee is very rare.
Villager: What about that time when we found sand inside the steamed buns?
Waiter: Don’t worry, we have already fired that chef, he didn’t have the right qualifications.
Villager: So when we’ve got so many problems, why do you still hang up certificates of high quality? Why do you tell oursiders that everyone is eating so well?
Waiter: For whose interests are you speaking? What a waste that the village has raised you!
Villager: The grain was grown by the peasant farmers, the restaurant was built by the workers, and the chef is one of us common people.
Waiter: Look at M village taking advantage of L village! M Village is really hegemonistic.
Villager: I can’t even get a decent meal, what do these other things have to do with me? Why don’t other villages have all these problems we have here?
Waiter: Whenever you talk about yourself, you can only say only bad things, when you talk about others, you say everything is good. You village traitor!
Original Chinese text
有一个村子只开一个饭店，所有人都必须去那家饭店吃饭。
村民：为什么不引进更多的饭店呢？
小二：我村处于发展阶段，多饭店容易乱不适合我们，所以我们要一饭店制。
村民：但是这菜太难吃了啊！
小二：我们饭店才发展多少年啊，在怎么不好也是我们自己的饭店啊。
村民：但是能不能便宜点啊！
小二：这个不符合我们村情，饭店也要发展。
村民：但是饭店的管家都开上奔驰了。
小二：这是高薪养廉。
村民：但是去年你把饭店盈利的钱都借给别的村了啊。
小二：这是个村策，你不需要关心。
村民：听说上个采购员拿买菜的钱跑别的村去了。
小二：那样的员工只是少数的。
村民：上次的包子里有沙子怎么回事啊？
小二：放心，已经把那个没证的厨师赶走了。
村民：那为什么出这么多问题，还要挂上优质称号呢？还对外称人人都吃的很满意。
小二：你是帮谁说话？饭店白养你了！
村民：粮食是农民种的，饭店是工人盖的，厨师也是我们小民出身的。
小二：你看现在M村正在欺负L村呢。M村真霸道。
村民：我现在连饭都吃不好，这些事和我有什么关系啊，那为什么别村的饭店就没这么多问题呢？
小二：一说自己村就是什么都不好，一说别的村就什么都好。你个卖村贼！！