‘China’s old ladies love to square dance a little too much’
‘China cracks down on middle aged women dancing noisily in public’
‘Old Chinese women won’t stop dancing in the streets’
‘China’s war on square dancing grannies’
‘Square dancers face official choreography’
‘China orders square dances to heel and toe the line’
Screaming headlines from New York to London!
What the Fuck?
Last month I was bumbering around Nanjing at dusk, the evening air was still balmy and as I walked along I could hear music in the distance.
Suddenly I walked into a vast open square and there in the middle in front of a beautiful monument was a bunch of older Chinese women doing this really slow dance to beautiful Chinese music.
I was totally mesmerised!
They were all doing something vaguely similar but certainly not the same – they were in sort of rows, but not really ….
I stopped for a while just to soak it in and was so tempted to join in – after all I qualify as ‘older’ with my grey purple hair!
So what was this phenomenon?… was this a special occasion? ..or a religious ceremony?
…maybe a birthday party?
Actually No…this is a national pastime –
Square Dancing or Plaza Dancing or precisely …
Public Square Dancing
This is an exercise routine performed to music in plazas or squares or even parks – any space actually big enough to accommodate a large number of people.
It is extremely popular with middle aged and retired women who have been referred to as ‘dancing grannies’
There are over 100 million practitioners across China…
…think about that for a minute…
100 million across China!!
So what is this?
This is a practice with roots in ancient and modern Chinese history – called the Yangge and it seemingly expresses happiness!
It is especially popular among older people…mainly women although men do join in.
Crowds of people will go out into the street in the evening and dance together in a line or a circle formation. As people pass and see the dancing they will join in and the crowd grows.
It originated during the time of Emperor Yao (2356 – 2255 BC), and then entered folk tradition during the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279) and during the Cultural Revolution the dance was adopted and adapted as a means of rallying village support.
So why the headlines and why is the Chinese government interested in what a bunch of old women get up to in the evening?
The answer is really funny – it’s because there is a whole army of people who hate the ‘dancing grannies’.
In fact, there have been numerous complaints about this seemingly innocent pastime.
Can you guess what the complaint might be?
Its noise pollution – especially when performed late in the evening or early in the morning which seem to be the preferred times for the participants…
Some of the protests have even turned violent!
Go Figure!!!!
The government attempted to intervene and try and control this movement but quickly decided against the move…I guess the thought of 100 million angry grannies was too much even for them…
Dancing Grannies 1 / Chinese Government 0
Happy Bumbering!
