By Sky Gidge
thatsmags.com
December 12, 2016
Few have less reason to dance than the older women who flood China’s parks, pavilions and parking lots daily, occupying public spaces with shimmying bodies and ear-ringing music.
They are what one researcher termed “the first generation of lonely mothers” in China’s history; products of economic reform, social change and the one-child policy.
They are left with few social outlets, a limited family circle and no employment, while living in a nation radically different from the one they grew up in.
But to tech worker Vanessa Wu, 28, they are mostly just annoying. Wu doesn’t enter her bedroom until 10pm, when the music finally stops. It begins again in the morning, sometimes as early as 6.30am, echoing from the small square across the street where groups of women dance in front of speakers they wheel in twice daily.
“I get it. It’s their way of keeping up with friends,” says Wu. “It just doesn’t need to be so noisy.”
In the apartment building’s common room, Wu’s words are met with nods from other middle class 20-somethings.
The music and the dancers, estimated at 100-million strong by state media, rattle windows and nerves across China every day. Continue reading “Why Do People Hate China’s Dancing Grandmas?”