In the People's Republic of China, square dancing or plaza dancing (), is an exercise routine performed to music in squares, plazas or parks of the nation's cities. It is popular with middle-aged and retired women who have been referred to as "dancing grannies" in the English-language media. Due to its low cost and ease of participation, it has been estimated to have over 100 million practitioners, according to CCTV, the country's official television network.
The practice has roots in both ancient and modern Chinese history. Dancing for exercise has been recorded as developed millennia ago in Emperor Yao's China, and during the Song dynasty the public spaces of cities were noted for their use in performance. Most of the women who square dance came of age during the Cultural Revolution, when folk dances such as yangge were widely performed, often as propaganda. Some have confirmed that this nostalgia is one of their reasons for taking part, although the benefits of the exercise and socialization opportunities also play a role.
Square dancers dance to a variety of music, mostly Chinese popular songs, both contemporary and historic. The hobby began in the mid-1990s, as middle-aged women who had been forced into retirement began doing it to keep themselves occupied. Its popularity notwithstanding, square dancing has been the subject of considerable controversy in the 2010s China due to complaints of noise pollution in the evening or morning hours. Dancers in China's increasingly populous cities congregate in public areas because there are few dedicated facilities where they could go. Residents of nearby apartment complexes who have been disturbed by the high volume of multiple dance groups' musical accompaniment, especially late in the evening and early in the morning when they are trying to sleep, have sometimes reacted violently.
In 2015 the Chinese government reacted to these complaints and incidents by prescribing a set of standardized routines for all dancers to follow, claiming they would be culturally unifying and healthier. The move was met with widespread criticism. Some Chinese complained that it did nothing to address the noise issues; others said the dancers should be free to choose their own routines. The real problem, yet others said, was not only the lack of better places for the dancing but the lack of other social opportunities for the women. The government soon clarified that the routines it created and promoted were only meant to be healthy alternatives to existing ones and were not required.
Form The groups congregate in the early morning and evening, any time of year, at parks or public squares, or anywhere they can find enough space, regardless of what other use that space may nominally have, such as a parking lot. Morning dancers try to avoid parks since they are preferred locations for tai chi, the martial arts school whose slowed-down moves are often practiced as exercise, known as tai chi in the West. They begin as early as 5:30 a.m., and tend to use spaces nearer supermarkets so they are better positioned to bargain for and purchase fresh vegetables when the markets open. In the evening they tend to start dancing after dinner; for this reason spaces used by square dancers in the evening tend not to be too far from their homes as they also may have to tend to grandchildren they may be watching while their own children work late.
Dancers organize themselves into rank and file. The front rank comprises the most proficient dancers, the best being in the center. Each rank back from the one in front contains dancer who are less proficient. All the dancers face forward. This allows dancers to learn from those in the rows ahead. The back rank is often populated with beginners just learning the moves, while the front rows are well-coordinated.
Some groups have gotten large, as many as 80 members in some cases. Leaders of these large groups charge a small fee to regular attendees to support the use of the electronics. It is reported as being either per month or ¥20 annually. One group in Changsha, however, was said to charge twice that.Zhao, 费用有每人每年20元的，也有每人每月5元的，视各领舞老师的意愿而定，但总体来说，“费用是很少的”。... 在长沙，一般需要缴纳的费用在每人每年40元左右。
Groups sometimes split if one experienced dancer feels she can lead a group of her own, especially if there are dancers dissatisfied with the current leaders' interpretation of the songs. Groups that form by such splits often consider themselves in competition. These can take the nature of friendly, organized events,Zhao, "据曹露向时代周报记者描述，一位湖南师范大学的退休女教师，先是参加了学校附近的“广场舞”团体，熟练后感到“舞蹈节奏太慢，更新的速度也不太频繁”，随后带着队伍里的一些成员重新成立了自己的团队，从网上看视频学习舞蹈，甚至到外地“取经”，自此以每周教学一支新舞的速度，迅速将原先的队伍比了下去。" or more serious competition for the best spaces available and the loudest sound.
Apparel varies greatly. Many groups' members show up in street clothes or exercise clothing similar to that worn for aerobics or yoga in the West. More advanced groups sometimes wear costumes and use props. The New York Times reported seeing one group in green fatigues, dancing to songs from the Korean War era. A Beijing group attracted international attention in summer of 2014 for performing Cultural Revolution-era songs like "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China" outside a local shopping mall every night, wearing military uniforms and using toy guns as props.
The music is usually broadcast from a portable CD player and amplifier on wheels, powered by a large vehicle battery. Accompaniment varies. Some groups dance to Western pop or even waltzes, but most choose Chinese popular songs with a dance beat, such as the 2014 hit "Little Apple", or older hits from the 1950s, often with propagandist lyrics. Some dances are complicated and demanding, but the majority are low-impact routines that primarily consist of holding the dancer's arms in front of the body in varied positions. For this reason they are often referred to derisively as "zombie dances."
Perceived benefits
"It's good for my health to be able to come out and exercise," a retiree told the Los Angeles Times. "I used to be quick to lose my temper, but now nothing bothers me," a similarly aged retired paper mill worker explained to The New York Times about the effect square dancing had had on her. "When I dance, I forget all my cares. And I can also hike up mountains with little effort."
A recent survey found that Shanghai residents have more tolerance for square dancing. According to the report, 75% of residents supported the group dancing, and 73% of young residents supported it. Beyond that, most residents said they thought guangchangwu is good for health, both mental and physical – 62% saw regular dancing as exercise and recreation, and 61% believed it helps elderly people expand their social circles and dispel loneliness.
History
Dance as a form of exercise, has a long history in China. The Lüshi Chunqiu, an encyclopedia compiled in the third century B.C.E., during the Spring and Autumn period, describes how, two millennia earlier in the time of Emperor Yao, people began to dance slowly in order to reinvigorate their muscles after lengthy rains had kept them indoors, sometimes leading to joint diseases. Eventually they began dressing up in costumes and using props. "As time passed, they discovered that some activities could promote appetite, strengthen muscles and bones, and get rid of fatigue," writes one historian of Chinese traditional medicine. "Over a longer period of time, these activities became arranged in rhythms and movements which were harmonious and graceful—now they had dancing." While these may have eventually evolved into modern breathing exercises, other commentators suggest a public aspect to such dancing analogous to modern square dancing may have been refined in later eras, such as the religious dances of the Warring States period that preceded the rise of Imperial China. A writer in Youth Times sees it as similar to public dancing in the Song dynasty of the late first millennium C.E.
The origins of modern square dancing have been traced to the Cultural Revolution that swept China during the 1960s and early '70s, in the broader context of the country's urbanization. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) won the Chinese Civil War and established the People's Republic of China. A decade later, CCP chairman Mao Zedong began the Great Leap Forward economic development initiative to accelerate industrialize the Chinese economy. At the time most Chinese still lived in rural areas, as they had for centuries. Some had already moved to cities to take industrial jobs, but to better realize the aspirations of the Great Leap Forward, many of them moved or were forcibly relocated.Tong, 19–20.
In cities during the Great Leap, there was an emphasis on collective use of public space even for activities that had usually taken place in the home. For example, entire neighborhoods were required to eat their dinner in public dining halls. Ultimately, the Great Leap Forward proved disastrous, failing to industrialize effectively and causing famine due to labor shortages on farms. In 1962, the government began allowing people to move back to farms.Tong, 15–16.
Soon afterward, the Cultural Revolution began. Organized youth styling themselves the Red Guards revolted against both Chinese traditions and official Chinese communism, preferring the purity of Maoism. Since urban intellectuals' thought was believed to have been tainted by awareness or memory of capitalism, many were sent to rural areas to live, work and be properly re-educated through review of Mao's writings. This too caused great hardship and economic disruption.
In the rural areas they were relocated to, the urbanites first encountered the yangge folk dance, very popular in rural areas, particularly in northern China. Originally performed to mark important agricultural occasions, yangge had been adapted by the CCP for its own uses as a propaganda tool. Performances often helped relieve tensions between the party and the peasantry during times when food was scarce, although during the more repressive period of the Cultural Revolution, yangge was itself banned along with many other traditional forms of expression.
The Cultural Revolution ended with Mao's death in 1976. Following the arrest and trial of the Gang of Four, including Mao's widow for perpetrating it, Deng Xiaoping took over as Chinese leader and instituted the reform and opening up which continues as "socialism with Chinese characteristics". The pace of urbanization picked up again afterwards. As younger Chinese moved from farms to cities, found jobs and started families, their parents often moved in with them to better supervise their grandchildren.
Foreign dance trends, such as ballroom, which had been suppressed during the Cultural Revolution, returned. Women who had experienced the brunt of the Cultural Revolution and its dislocations in their teens and young adulthood, including the exposure to and participation in yangge performances, began to reach mandatory retirement age in the mid-1990s, or were laid off from state-run enterprises following privatization. Some also began experiencing marital stress as husbands began having extramarital affairs with younger women, left home for long periods of time to work elsewhere, or both. They returned to dance as a way to stay fit, relieve boredom and socialize.
Some dancers themselves make this historical connection. "When I do the dances, it reminds me of my younger years when I was doing similar dances during the Cultural Revolution," a retired driver in her mid-60s told the Los Angeles Times in 2014. "I feel the same kind of spirit and emotions." Another woman, whose troupe used the "red songs" written during that era, was more political. "The[y] can always remind us what the Chinese leaders did for us to have a good life today and how they fought hard for the ordinary people in China."