Abstract:Square dancing is a popular leisure activity in China. Historic
reasons and women’s needs promote the popularity of square dancing but lots of
opponents criticize it. The noise, which is made by square dancing, has given
public concern. However,in the interest ofwell-balanced individual rights and collective interests, the governmentsshould support square dancing because of its cultural benefits and social function.
Keyword:Square dancing, Leisureactivity, Community arts
Introduction
In the People’s Republic of China, square dancing is an
exercise and participated mostly by middle-aged and retired women who are
called “dancing grannies”. This kind of dancing in Australia called “line
dancing”.A group of square dancing is usually more than 20
dancers. They use a radio to play the popular music loudly and they follow the
rhythm of music when they are dancing.It takes more than 30 minutes and less
than 1 hour. Dancing grannies prefer to dance 4-5 times per week and the
dancing places are always near their homes. The grannies dance from 6.30 to
8.30 in the morning and from 7.00 to 9.00 in the evening. Zhang (2014) said
thatsquare dancing included national dance, socialdance, aerobics and line dance. It could be divided into two categories,bare-hands and dancing with equipment, such as fan, handkerchief and waistdrum.
Ching Bao (a localnewspaper) reported that there were
nearing 100 million people in China who like square dancing. This data may be
not accurate enough. However, the fact is that square dancing is very popular
in China, especially among middle-aged women. Research in Hefei shows that 8.8%
of the interviewees said that their family members danced regularly; 33.3% of
the interviewees said that their family members danced sometimes; 57.8% of the
interviewees didn’t have the participators in their families (Lu, 2014). Square
dancing is a widely accepted activity by the public. Sun (2013) investigated
the popularity in the city of Zhangjiakou, Hebei province; the data she
collected shows that the number of the dancing groups in Zhangjiakou is about
4000 and the number of the participants isabout3
million. GMW (Guang Ming Wang, a Chinese News website) reported (2014) that Clover
Moore, the mayor of Sydney, saw square dancing activity in Guang Zhou and
wanted to take square dancing to Sydney’s communities. She said “Square dancing
is an active factor in cities and communities, and we would like to take it to
Sydney”.
In view of the popularity of square
dancing and its health benefits,GAS (General Administration of Sport) composed 12forms ofdances in 2015, which provide participants learning
and practice（Guan Cha Zhe, a Chinese News website, 2015）.
The reasons of the popularityfor square dancing in China
With the development of economy in China(from 1992), the women had enough money to afford their daily needs withoutmaking money after their retirement. In the case, they have lots of free timeto participate in cultural activities to enjoy their lives, especially inmorning and night. This is because some women still have their duties to takecare of their grandchildren. For this kind of women, square dancing could helpthem relax their bodies after daily housework.
The women who were born between1949-1976 grew up in Mao’s China and didn’t have the chance to show their beautyto others because of the ethics in that atmosphere. To be specific, collectiveinterests are regarded more important than individual rights. In post-Mao’sChina, the culture is affected by western values and the women prefer to showthemselves to others. The middle-class women’s attitude to the collectiveactivities changes a little. They spend lots of their money on clothes and jewelrybut they are unwilling to use their money on activities they participate in. InMao’s China, the government founded the collective activities. Therefore, womencan easily accept square dancing as a part of their leisure activities.
The state governments report the
construction of public resources annually, which always said that citizens had
enough sports facilities and public resources on average. In fact, people don’t
have adequate accessible facilities. This is because people used to go to the
public places, such as a park, on foot. Wong (2009) said that 75.83% of the
people preferred to go to parks on foot and 59% of the people spent less than
15 minutes to arrive parks in Hong Kong survey. This phenomenon is the same situation
in comparison with the Mainland, which the people may own their private cars
but the cities cannot afford parking places near parks. The fact is most of
Chinese do not have enough public resources in comparison with Australia. However,
square dancing is different from other sports and cultural activities that
require a high level of sites. Furthermore, square dancing can take place in an
abandoned parking place.
China has a long history of
cooking culture, but only the upper class has the chance to participate in this
complex cooking culture for a long period. In other words, ordinary people do
not have enough money to taste delicious food. After the economic revolution,
people’s dietary habit has changed. However, people begin to bear the illness(hypertension),which is caused by eating too much animal meat and cholesterol. On thisoccasion, they need to exercise to keep healthy.
Studies indicate that engaging in
social activities could improve older people’s physical and mental health (e.g.
Glass, Mendes de Leon, Marottoli, & Berkham, 1999; Wang, Karp, Winbland,
& Fratiglioni, 2002). In research, Zhong (2015) said that nearly 97% of the
interviewees thought their health conditions had been improved since they get involve
in square dancing.Zhong also indicates
that about 98% of the interviewees said that square dancing could release their
negative emotions and adjust their mental condition.In dancing
groups, square dancing is not only a physical exercise but also a social
activity, which could help dancers to build new friendships with others. Most of the retired women experience socialisolation because their social environment has changed after their retirement. Campbell(2011) said that “the main internal triggers were: emotional need; maintaininghealth; desire for learning and developing an individual identity” (p331). Campbellalso points out that time, money and opportunities are the main reasons thataffect whether participants take part in leisure activities.
The popularity of square dancingis based on a social and economic revolution. During this period, the lifestyleof middle-aged women has been changed. Middle-aged women explore their own wayto cope with this revolution, which means how traditional life style coexistswith modern society. In other words, they want to rebuild their own community,which was destroyed by the revolution. In this case, square dancing is theirstrategy, and it is widely accepted by middle-aged women.
Public discussions about square
dancing
Research of square dancing in Hefei, Anhui province,
indicates that 52.9%of the interviewees have a positiveattitude toward square dancing, only 2.9% of the interviewees opposed squaredancing and 44.1% of the interviewees don’t care about square dancing (Lu,2014). The complaints about square dancing could be seen from newspapers andTVs frequently.
The shortage of public resourcesis a headache for the government. It is widely accepted that the localresidential committee has the responsibility to provide enough room for theresidents in a community. In fact, the local residential committee can only provideenough space for playing mahjong (a Chinese traditional leisure activity, whichis popular in China). On this occasion, the citizens don’t have chance to usethe resources. They may occupy commercial spaces or educational places. To bespecific, most urban communities lack spaces for cultural and arts activities. Thisis because most of the apartments don’t provide enough public spaces.
Lan Zhou Wan Bao (a local newspaper , June 5th2013) reported that because the dancers were noisy, it had a negative effect on thestudents who were studying at home. The city inspectors (the managers who regulatecitizens’ daily lives) tried to persuade the dancers not to play loud music.Nevertheless, the inspectors could not stop their dancing because the dancersinsisted that they had rights to dance in public spaces.
The dancing groups of square dancing usually comprise more
than20 dancers and the music is played very loudly because they need tofollow the rhythm. From the objective side, the people who live in anovercrowded city are easily interrupted by outside activities. When the numberof a dancing group increases, the music will be played louder than before.
According to the research in Hefei, only 1.9% of theinterviewees think square dancing is very noisy; 33.3% of the intervieweesthink it is noisy sometimes but it doesn’t have a negative impact on theirlives; 13.7% of the interviewees think it is noisy; 50.9% of the interviewsthink it is not noisy (Zhang, 2014). In fact, most of the people have positiveattitude toward square dancing. In other words, only a few people’ s lives areimpacted by square dancing.
The traditional values emphasize that individual rights are
under collective interests. Indeed, the majority of people are accustomed to
endure noise. Conversely, the minority of people cannot concentrate themselves
in a noisy environment and they think they have right to live in a quiet
environment. Therefore, they may use their own strategies toaddressthe problem. In this case, the dancers and the sufferers, whoendure the noise, always have an argument. The dancers think they have rightsto dance in the public areas. Furthermore, they argue that the majority of thepublic doesn’t criticize them. In other words, some people who complain are toosensitive. In the dancers’ opinion, the complainers should think more about thecollective interests and not emphasize too much individual rights. The ancientsaying still tells people “The minority is subordinate to the majority”.
Nowadays, most Chinese people
live in apartments. The dancing granniesprefer to dance near their homes because some of the grannies haveresponsibilities to look after their grandchildren and cook meals for their ownchildren. This preference means that the dancing is usually held in residentialareas. In addition, the soundproofing material of the apartments in China isnot effective enough, which makes the situation even worse. The opinions of theresidents always divide into two converse sides. The people who have theirfamily members dancing near the apartments can bear the noise; conversely, thepeople who don’t have dancers in their families complain about the noise.
In view of public complaints, the government has formulated relevant
laws and policies to regulate this situation. For example,according toGeneral
Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, article 83, if someone has a negative effect onothers, he or she will be punished and must promise never do it again.According toLaw of the People's Republic
of China on Prevention and Control of Pollution From Environmental Noise,article 16, the organisation, which causes environmental noise, should pay apenalty. According toInterim provisions
of the park noise management, in public areas, environmental noise isprohibited. If someone makes the noise, which surpasses the standards, he orshe will be fined 100-500RMB(about 20-100AUD).
Nevertheless, it is not effective because the traditional
values restrict governments’ behaviors in practice. In addition, the government
officials think that they don’t need to settle down the dispute between the
dancers and the public. They regard these affairs as tiny things. Liang (2013)
said that governments didn’t have a specific department to regulate the public
activities like square dancing. The organization, which has responsibility to
solve the dispute, is the local residential committee. It is the basic level of
executive organization. The method it uses, is not based on laws and policies.It still uses traditional ethics.
Thegovernments could set up a specific department to manage the dancing groups.The managers could be selected from the dancers who have long time experience insquare dancing.
Thedancing groups that include more than 20 (this number should be investigated)participants and dance daily in the same place should register in the specificdepartment. Furthermore, the local residential committees may educate thedancers and give them some reasonable recommendations to cope with the noise.For example, the dancers dance with headphones in Guizhou province. Accordingto XinHua Net (a Chinese News Website, 2014) reported that Fudan University hadinvented an electric equipment called “Line-array Loudspeaker”, which couldreduce the noise. However, this equipment has not been utilized in practice. Theprice of this equipment may mean that middle-aged women are reluctant to buythis Loudspeaker.
Nowadays,Chinese immigrants represent a high percentage of some countries’ population,such as Australia. Theoretically, square dancing is a terrific community activity,which could promote cultural diversity and civic engagement in arts. However,most westerners cannot accept that square dancing holds activities in squareand park because of the noise it makes. Zhang (2014) indicates that the mainreason caused one Chinese dancing dama (granny) arrested in New York is thenoise she made and she is the leader of dancing group.
Learning square dancing from
others and the Internet
Some participants are audiences before they become dancers. VisitingUrban Park is a part of many people’s daily leisure activity. In this case, theaudiences are familiar with the environment where square dancing takes place. Theyhave more chance to learn square dancing.
Middle-aged women have their communities. They prefer to
share their ideas and anecdotes with their peers. Their friends always
recommend square dancing to the women, who suffer from chronic disease. In this
case, some people start to participate in square dancingbecausethey think it could lighten their symptoms.
The dancers learn the new style of dance mainly from the Internet.There are a variety of resources online, which arefree. In other words, the related laws of copyright protection in China are notstrict enough in comparison with Australia. The professional dancers uploadtheir videos to an online forum. Furthermore, some dancing lovers upload thedancing CD they brought to the forum. Thus, the videos spread very quickly. Thedancers download the videos for free. Of course, it is illegal. On thisoccasion, the government should balance the dancers’ interests and theprotection of copyrights.
Square dancing is a tool of the government and could help withsocial problems
Square dancing is an activity, which does not need morepublic resources in comparison with other activities, such as singing andsports.
The ageing society has become a headache in the 21stcentury. According to2013 China Human
Development Report,it indicates that the percentage of the ageingpopulation would occupy 18.3% of the total population in the 2030s. Furthermore,the low level of the pension, health resources and sports facilitiescould not be solved by using economic strategies. Thechairman of China Insurance Regulatory Commission, Chen (2012) said the low levelof the pension is significant. The central government has not published theofficial data on the shortage of pension (Finance IFeng, a News website 2012).
AlthoughChina has developed a modern culture for more than 30 years, it is stilllearning. In this case, the governments try to build a modern cultural imagebut they fail. This is because they do not fully consider the public ideas andthe image they built cannot reflect the people’s lives. Square dancing isdifferent from other activities, which are organized by the governments. Thedancers really love the dancing, which could enrich their lives and keep them physicallyhealthy. The studies of McCormack (2008), McPherson (2004), and Son (2007) confirmthat engaging in leisure activities is associated with continued wellbeingduring the ageing period. Square dancing is a low-intensity activity, whichcould keep dancers healthy and alleviate their symptoms. In addition, if thedancers exercise regularly, it is easy to maintain their own healthy condition.In this case, there may be fewer women who go to seek medical help. The dancinggroups don’t need financial support directly, which means they just need enoughspaces to dance.
Culturalinfrastructure such as museums, theatres, or galleries, are not abundant inChina in comparison with Australia. Some cosmopolitan cities, such as Beijingand Shanghai, have a municipal museum. But these are not easily accessible bythe public because of the cost and the fact that they are often over-crowded. However,square dancing is more accessible for the general public. They don’t need aticket to access the activities and they can have their own timetables. In thiscase, the governments could allocate their budget to square dancing, which isanother way to develop culture.
Square dancing in the culturalcontext
Square dancing is a way to explore the traditional life
style that exists in modern society.Before
the1990s, most people lived in bungalows. In this case, the communication
between neighbours played a very important role in their daily lives. This is
because a percentage of people have lived in the same place for decades. To be
specific, in the 1990s, women enjoyed talking with their neighbors after
supper. They also could visit their friends’ home. It is traditional lifestyle
and the village they live is their community. After the economic revolution in
China (1992), the building industry has become the foundation of Chinese
economy. Most bungalows and houses have been pulled down, which means the
traditional community is destroyed by the building industry. Therefore, the people
live in apartments and a place, which has lots of same style buildings called
“residential area”. In this area, it has strict regulations, which define
residents’ behavior. Furthermore, the people who live in apartments aren’t
familiar with each other so the residents are unwilling to talk with others
about their daily lives.
Beforethe reform ofstate-owned enterprises, most women worked for factories or companies untiltheir retirement. On this occasion, most of their friends are their colleaguesexcept their relatives. To be specific, at that time, the enterprises were notonly business organizations but also communities. For example, the workerscould be supported when they want to buy their own properties. In addition, theworkers pay their bills, such as electricity and water, to the enterprises theywork for. After their retirement, they spend less time talking with theirex-colleagues. A number of women have experienced social isolation after theyretired. In other words, they are lacking social and cultural belonging. Inthis case, they have a strong desire to rebuild their own community.
Participation is a key factor, which associates with thevitality of community. Square dancing is not professional dance, which doesn’trequire learners to learn for a long time. Most of the participants are theaudiences before they become the dancers. The cost of the dancing is very lowin comparison with other sports and arts activities. To be specific, thedancers only need a radio to play the music that they can follow the rhyme ofmusic. In other words, the participants who take part in square dancing don’tneed to care about the cost. Participation does not only refer to participationin square dancing but also participation in composing new forms of dance. Thisis because the dancers are in favor of the dances, which are easy to learn. Inthe other words, the professional dance could not be widely accepted by thedancers.
Square dancing enhances cultural diversity. The dancingmusic is always associated with popular music and traditional music. It couldenhance the interaction between different kinds of music. The style of dance isbased on the rhyme of the music. In this case, it could create a number ofdifferent styles of dance. In addition, the dancers are mainly middle-agedwomen, which have different backgrounds. The dancers prefer to talk with otherdancers about middle-aged women’s interests. Although the dancers live indifferent places, they have a chance to get together to talk and share ideas.On this occasion, square dancing is not a dancing activity but also a communityactivity. This is because the women are happy in this atmosphere. The communityin China is not only a geographical concept but also a cultural concept. Thedancers could choose the dancing groups they like. To be specific, the dancerscould join different dancing groups and communicate with different people,which could promote the diversity of culture.
As more and more people have joined the dancing groups intheir cities, there are a number of the dancing groups in a city. The dancersare middle-aged women who want to show their beauty to others so they also wantto differentiate their characters to other dancing groups. In other words, theystart to focus on building their own identities. For example, they wear theiruniforms, which could show their characters. In addition, the dancers coulddesign their own uniforms or design a logo for their teams.
During the festivals, such as spring festival and nationalday, the dancers are supported by local governments to perform in the publicareas. Square dancing is a good project for the governments to develop theculture.
Support and manage
square dancing
Asmentioned before, square dancing is a popular leisure activity in China. Theauthorities should focus on balancing individual rights and collectiveinterests.
InZhong(2015)’s research, it indicated that the dancers were lacking professionalguidance, which may cause a negative impact on their health. As previousmentioned, the dancers prefer to learn the new forms of dances from theInternet. It may not be certified that the dances are for the benefit of thedancers’ health by professional researchers. This issue should be solvedimmediately. The local residential committees have responsibility to guide thedancing groups. The local governments could allocate the budget to thecommittees and supervise the usage of the money.
Thegovernments still regard square dancing as a physical exercise and only emphasizeits function for the dancers’ health. Conversely, they should focus on squaredancing in a social and culture context.
Localresidential committee is the basic level of organization in culturaldevelopment but it is not supported by government. It is like a community artscentre. Many cultural activities are held in the committee. In this case,government could allocate some budget into the committee. Thus, the committeecan support and manage square dancing more effectively.
Conclusion
Squaredancing is not only a daily exercise but also could be utilized as government’stool to address social problem. Although square dancing has caused some publiccomplaints, it is not a major drawback of square dancing. In other words, it onlyreveals that square dancing is a field which needs to be well managed. In thiscase, government should balance individual rights and collective interests.Thus, square dancing could be promoted widely in China. Furthermore, if squaredancing could be held without disturbing others, it may be widely acceptedaround the world. Square dancing is a terrific activity, which can promotepublic participation in arts.
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