Miss Jin is not surnamed Pan.
Original joke
一天，小明老师去小明家家访，小明爸爸连忙开门，小明老师做自我介绍说:我姓金，叫金莲。小明爸爸连忙说:潘老师快请进！
One day, Mr. Xiaoming’s teacher went to visit Xiaoming’s family. Xiaoming’s dad quickly opened the door. Xiaoming’s teacher introduced herself, saying, “My surname is Jin, and I’m called Jin Lian.” Xiaoming’s dad promptly responded, “Please come in, Ms. Pan!”
Joke explanation
To understand why this joke is funny, we need to know two background pieces of information:
Pan Jinlian is a character from the Chinese novel “Water Margin.” She has a notorious reputation as a notorious woman and is infamous for her involvement in the murder of her husband Wu Dalang.
In China, names typically consist of two parts: the surname (Xing) and the given name (Ming). The surname (Xing) is placed at the beginning of the name and represents the family and lineage. The given name (Ming) is an individual’s unique identifier and comes after the surname. Given names can consist of one or more characters.
The humor in this joke arises from the misunderstanding of the teacher’s name, “Jin Lian,” as being associated with the notorious character Pan Jinlian. This mix-up between names creates a humorous twist.