Dancing gives lease of life to countryside
Print Edition
SQUARE dancing, a favorite community activity in Chinese cities, is finding popularity in the countryside as booming tourism is seeing urbanites take the practice with them as they travel.
Encouraged by authorities who see it as a new economic growth engine, rural tourism is on the fast track in China. It drew an investment of about 122 billion yuan (US$18 billion) in the first half of 2016, a year-on-year increase of 62.3 percent, according to the China National Tourism Administration.
The NTA said city people made about 2 billion visits to China’s countryside last year.
The increasing number of urbanites visiting her hometown has had one big effect on Yang Shihui’s lifestyle: the 48-year-old has taken up square dancing.
“The visitors are used to square dancing, so when they come for vacations in our village, they dance here too,” Yang said. “I have learned some of their routines and have become quite addicted.”
Yang owns a homestay in Xinglong Village, which sits in a remote corner of southwest China’s Chongqing. Xinglong is typical of Chinese villages on the edges of urban sprawl whose scenery and fresh air make them attractive retreats for city slickers.
“Most of my guests are retired citizens from Chongqing, and they all love square dancing,” Yang said.
Many public squares in Chinese cities come alive at night with senior citizens performing choreographed dance routines as music blasts out of loudspeakers.
In Xinglong, they initially danced in the courtyards of homestays, but these spaces proved too small as the numbers grew. The local government responded by building a big public square to cater to the dancers.
“The square is part of our plan to bolster tourism here,” said Ran Hucheng, Party chief of Dong’an Township, which administers Xinglong.
Yang said there used to be a big dance scene in Xinglong, with villagers honing their own style, called “Qiangun,” a type of dance featuring bamboo sticks and copper coins. But as the residents left to seek jobs in big cities, passion for dancing waned in Xinglong.
“Fortunately, as tourism has boomed, many migrant workers have returned home to start businesses, and the number of people who can do the Qiangun dance is rising again,” said Fu Hongzheng, a local official.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
