China’s ‘little emperors’ take up dancing
Posted: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 9:50 AM
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Beijing, China
By Nancy Chen, NBC News Researcher
It’s a dance revolution.
Obesity is a growing problem in China, and the government’s new solution: mandatory dance classes, in the hopes that students will boogie their way to a slimmer waistline.
Starting in September, millions of students will have to spend their breaks or gym class time shimmying; each set of the seven designated dances – different for elementary, middle and high school students – will last four to five minutes, the Chinese Ministry of Education announced on Tuesday.
Chinese students, nicknamed "Little Emperors," have been growing chubbier by the decade. They are on average more than 2 inches taller and 6.5 pounds heavier than they were 30 years ago, according to the Chinese Ministry of Health.
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| Nancy Chen / NBC News |
| Chinese students demonstrate their dancing skills at press conference held by the Chinese Ministry of Education on Tuesday. |
Many Chinese blame the problem on the influx of Western fast-food chains – you can’t walk a block in a major city like Beijing or Shanghai without spotting a McDonald’s, KFC or Pizza Hut.
The restaurants are almost always full – the clean environment, air conditioning, fast service and American element all add to their popularity. And the $9 for a 12-inch pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut (delivered on bicycle, not car) is also becoming more affordable for the increasing number of affluent Chinese.
But children’s waistlines are growing along with their parents’ bank accounts.
Possible solution: dance it off
The new dances appear to be a good solution: they will supplement the hour-a-day exercise students have been ordered to perform, and boogying away stress seems to work for many.
"Be a little happier! Smile more!" a school administrator encouraged middle school students as they demonstrated several of the dances Tuesday at a press conference held by the Office of the Ministry of Education to allay parents’ concerns about the new program.
Snappy and exciting pop music blared over the loudspeakers as row upon row of students in dresses and slacks raised their arms in the air.
They jumped; they jived; and they sometimes fell out of place. Arms went up when they were supposed to be down, and one student kept moving forward while everyone else moved back. The students may have been well dressed and well choreographed, but they still giggled and looked nervous.
Overall, though, their performance made them almost look like pros, except instead of being on a stage, they stood on a green-turf basketball court behind a school. The students had just learned the dance on Friday. No doubt they worked around the clock to perform it on Tuesday morning.
Parent’s concerns – ‘puppy love’?
Parents, however, are in an uproar about everything from students unwilling to take a whirl to what the dances promote.
Yang Gui Ren, an official at the Sports, Health and Culture Department, said at a press conference that students will be allowed to participate in other activities if they don’t want to dance; they just have to get outside instead of "sitting in the classroom just doing problems."
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| Nancy Chen / NBC News |
| Chinese students show off their dance skills at the Chinese Ministry of Education on Tuesday. |
Parents have been debating on Internet message boards whether the close contact will lead to puppy love. Romantic relationships before college are frowned upon and called "early love."
"Letting students waltz will create hotbeds of adolescent love. That is not good," a Beijing teacher told The Guardian. "Schools work very hard to prevent students from falling in love too early."
And if dancing with someone of the opposite sex every day isn’t stressful enough, the Xinhua News Agency reported last month that students may have to prove their physical fitness in addition to achieving good grades in order to gain admittance to a Chinese university under an Education Ministry proposal.
Most students are currently admitted to college based solely on the results of a three-day examination called "gaokao." The tests decide the fate of millions – and only 20 percent of the students will get into a four-year college program, according to CCTV Television.
The exams, which finished on Sunday, leave the nation’s busiest cities at a standstill. Roads are blocked; police sirens are silenced; and parents crowd in front of schools, leading to an environment so full of pressure that student suicides are often an element of the "gaokao" as well.
The fitness tests are supposed to help decide which students to admit when test scores are too similar.
And how to kick it all off?
With a waltz, of course.
