Does anyone have recommendations for building cultural literacy in Chinese? In English, we might call someone Judas or Benedict Arnold. Someone raised in the United States will understand what this means, but someone raised outside it might not understand that they're calling that person a traitor. Referring to something as one's Kryptonite or Achille's Heel are other example's where people from outside the culture might not know what they mean and wouldn't be able to just look it up in a dictionary. In English, we make these sort of cultural allusions all the time, and I have no doubt Chinese is the same.
These cultural allusions come from classical sources like the bible and the Greek Mythology. But they also come from pop culture sources like sitcoms and comic books. Being familiar with Friends, Seinfeld and Superman can get you a surprisingly long way in English. Slam Dunk and Doraemon did the same for me in Japanese.
So, my question is where are good places to start in getting to know Chinese pop culture. I don't know necessarily want to know what the best stuff is, but what is most likely to come up in conversation? My knowledge of Chinese (Chinese in the broader sense, including Taiwan and Hong Kong) pop culture is limited to wuxia and old chopsocky movies.
