Chinese Pole Dancing

[GeneChing]

Photos: The Chinese National Pole Dance Championship (http://shanghaiist.com/2013/12/11/photos_4th_chinese_national_pole_da.php)

http://shanghaiist.com/assets_c/2013/12/tianjin-pole-dancing-7-thumb-640x382-821729.jpg

The 4th Chinese National Pole Dance Championship took place on in Tianjin this year, with the theme of "Fashionable Fitness; Arts without Boundaries." 16 dancers from across the country competed in the championship, which seems like an extraordinarily small number of people. Regardless, here a handful of Xinhua-approved pole-dancing photos.

http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/tianjin-pole-dancing-1.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/tianjin-pole-dancing-2.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/tianjin-pole-dancing-3.jpg
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http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/tianjin-pole-dancing-5.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/tianjin-pole-dancing-6.jpg


Unless there's a solid connection to Kung Fu, I'm gonna move this thread to the OT forum soon. Did your daughter train in martial arts for this, YouKnowWho?

[GeneChing]

Nice to know China has a national pole dancing team.

Photos: Chinese national pole dancing team perform in the snow (http://shanghaiist.com/2013/12/18/photos_chinese_national_pole_dancin.php)

http://shanghaiist.com/assets_c/2013/12/snow-pole-dancing-1-thumb-640x398-822799.jpg

With a national pole dancing competition and a fashion show in the snow already having taken place, this was more or less inevitable. These wholesome, endearing photos of the Chinese national pole dancing team performing in the snow in Tianjin will warm your *ahem* heart.

http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/snow-pole-dancing-2.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/snow-pole-dancing-3.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/snow-pole-dancing-4.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/snow-pole-dancing-5.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/snow-pole-dancing-6.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/snow-pole-dancing-7.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/snow-pole-dancing-8.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/snow-pole-dancing-9.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2013/12/snow-pole-dancing-10.jpg

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9FS1bxaGTg

[sanjuro_ronin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9FS1bxaGTg

That is simply amazing.

[mickey]

........

I did not know Traci Lords had a daughter in the Ukraine. She looks so much like her mom.


mickey

[Syn7]

What's up with China and scantily clad women in the snow? I didn't think much of it at first, but I keep seeing it over and over.

[GeneChing]

I'm thinking of splitting this thread - keeping a My daughter won the 2013 International Pole Championship and splitting the rest to its own indie thread. Seems there's a lot of Chinese pole dancing going on. ;)


Look: Pole dancer captivates tourists on scenic Yellow River cruise by posing like a flag (http://shanghaiist.com/2015/05/05/pole-dancer-captivates-tourists-yellow-river-cruise.php)

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/Three_Gorges_pole_dancer.jpg

As the grandeur of the Three Gorges passed by on either side, a boat full of tourists in Henan couldn't help but be focused on a different sort of natural beauty —that of a woman in a bikini trying to pose on a pole like the flag of a boat.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/Three_Gorges_pole_dancer2.jpg

According to NetEase, the scantily-clad woman first performed a pole dancing routine using the ship's flag pole, before really captivating her audience with her (really darn impressive) attempts at becoming just like the ship's flag. Judging from the pictures, the tourists were suitably impressed. Ah, the majesty of nature!

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/Three_Gorges_pole_dancer3.jpg

In the tour company's defense, they might have just been trying to make up for the fact that this was not a tour of the famous Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, but instead a tour of the somewhat less picturesque Three Gorges of the Yellow River, by adding in a little naughtical sex appeal.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/Three_Gorges_pole_dancer4.jpg

With government crackdowns on sexy models at car shows, strippers at funerals and Japanese porn stars everywhere, it seems like soon the only place that Chinese people will be able to go to see a little skin is the various tourist-starved sites of central China.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/Three_Gorges_pole_dancer5.jpg

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/Three_Gorges_pole_dancer6.jpg

by Alex Linder

[Images via NetEase]
Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Shanghaiist in News on May 5, 2015 9:00 PM

[-N-]

Seems there's a lot of Chinese pole dancing going on. ;)

Today I learned that there are camels in China.

Thanks Gene ;)

[GeneChing]

There is a traditional form of Chinese acrobatics that involves pole dancing. The western stripper version is different. That has been spreading in China, on the heels of the original acrobatic form.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1nkIc5ryPM


i still think its pretty weird john was openly proud of his daughter being pole dancing champion.
That being said, and given bawang's comment above, I am going to split this thread now. Here's the original thread that this was split from: My-daughter-won-the-2013-International-Pole-Championship (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67014-My-daughter-won-the-2013-International-Pole-Championship)

[GeneChing]

Apparently this is really becoming a 'thing' in China.

:D


China goes gaga over pole dancing (http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/21/news/economy/china-pole-dancing/)
By Sophia Yan @sophia_yan

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/150420165258-china-pole-black-780x439.jpg
Chinese pole dancer Fang Yi competes at the 2015 World Pole Championships in Beijing.

Scantily-clad dancers execute gravity-defying moves and sexy hip rolls against a backdrop of thumping music and flashing lights. It sounds like a typical nightclub -- except the sun is still out, and the drink of choice is coconut water, not ****tails.

This is the scene at Pole Divas, an exercise studio in Hong Kong that specializes in pole dancing. Already a popular form of fitness around the globe, the craze is now sweeping China, attracting legions of consumers with money to burn.

Hundreds of studios are popping up across the country to meet the demand for these high-intensity, acrobatic classes. It's so hot that China even has a national pole dance team, and regularly hosts competitions in cities like Beijing and Hong Kong.

"At this point, in the whole country -- everywhere, every province, every corner -- pole dancing is popular," said Luo Lan, who opened up one of China's first pole academies in 2005. "Everyone has been exposed to this now."

Pole dancing is part of China's giant health and fitness sector, which has turned into a $4.63 billion industry as millions of Chinese enter the middle class. Fueled by their disposable income, the sector is expected to balloon to $7.41 billion by 2019, according to research firm IBIS World.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/150421111813-china-pole-snow-780x439.jpg
A member of China's national pole team performs outdoors in the snow.

Entrepreneurs like Luo and Jady Chow, who runs Pole Divas, are clamoring to get a slice of the market.

Luo has a chain of 24 schools to train pole dancers, and says her students have gone on to open up another 600 studios across China. Chow, who used to own a spa, was introduced to pole dancing by a client. She signed up for a few sessions, and eventually took over the management of Pole Divas.

Pole dance students say they become addicted after just a handful of classes, which mix core conditioning and pole technique. Moves include sweeping around midair or swooping upside down with one leg swung over the pole.

"I love pole dancing," said Hebe Cheung, 26, an accountant and Pole Divas client. "It's sexy and sporty, and I think it's fun!"

It's easy to see why customers keep coming back for more -- pole dancing is an entertaining way to get some serious exercise in. "Women can see the transformation -- when you look good, you feel good," said Chow.

Hanging out at the studio is also a great way to make friends, said Cheung, and classmates cheer each other on while experimenting with difficult moves. One student even said she typically attends class with her teenage daughter.

Pole dancing, however, is an extremely expensive hobby. A three-month membership at Luo's school in Beijing costs 16,800 yuan ($2,700).

But "with the economic boom in China, women have more money to look after themselves," said Anna Przeplasko, the founder of the International Pole Dance Fitness Association. "They want to feel more feminine."

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/150420165338-china-pole-class-780x439.jpg
Students practice in a pole dance class in Tianjin, China.

[GeneChing]

Not 'Chinese' but of interest... a women friend forwarded this to me, someone not on this forum or even connected to the martial arts at all. Seemed relevant, or at least timely.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCRP-5om_3Y

[sanjuro_ronin]

The naughtiness aside ( and we only think of that part because we are conditioned to since pole dancing "started" with strippers), the strength and flexibility and all around athleticism needed to do those moves is simply amazing.
High level, period.

[herb ox]

I like it all the way around :)

Forwarding to my wife to see if I can convince her to do this as her "getting into shape after childbirth" routine instead of yoga for moms :D

herb ox

[herb ox]

Uh Oh... starting to think maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all... :eek:

[GeneChing]

Look: 70-year-old pole dancer pulls off intense moves in Chengdu (http://shanghaiist.com/2015/08/24/70-chengdu-pole-dancer.php)

http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2015/08/grandma-poledancer.jpg

While many elderly women in China spend their free time joining in public square-dancing sessions or accompanying their husbands on backwards walks through the park, this 70-year-old woman in Chengdu, Sichuan province practices pole dancing in very own bedroom.

The woman, called Dai Dali, first learned to pole dance at a gym four years ago and is now able to pull of moves that most people half her age couldn't accomplish.

http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2015/08/grandma-poledancer2.jpg
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Dai had participated in a number of competitions and was even named winner of the Fifth China Pole Dance Championship. She loves the sport so much, she's had a pole installed in her bedroom.

Images of her twirling around on the ol' pole have made the rounds online, inspiring Chinese web users who can only stare on in awe from their desk-bound jobs.

http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2015/08/grandma-poledancer6.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2015/08/grandma-poledancer7.jpg

Actually, Dai is not the first woman of her age to make headlines for attempting the activity. An elderly woman from Jilin has also appeared to have mastered the sport, which she says has brought her health and happiness.

Not all have expressed equal enthusiasm for her hobby, however, as one top-voted commenter wrote: "Old people can do what they like, amuse themselves how they see fit, but don't go on television or appear in the media, ok? It's just too disgusting."

http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2015/08/grandma-poledancer8.jpg

Dai says she hopes people can realize that pole dancing just like any other form of exercise.

"It is just a kind of dance, it isn't a vulgar dance. And my family members all support me," she said. "I want to prove that age does not mean anything as long as you persist," Dai said.

http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2015/08/grandma-poledancer9.jpg

[Images via Sina]
Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Katie Nelson in News on Aug 24, 2015 4:00 PM
Give it up for the elderly.... (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?57037-Give-it-up-to-the-elderly!!!!!)

[GeneChing]

IN PHOTOS: Young women from across China train at pole dancing studio on the outskirts of Beijing (http://shanghaiist.com/2015/12/02/pole_dancers_in_beijing.php)

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/beijing_pole_dancing.jpg
With the recent smoggy and snowy weather, if you live in northern China, now might be a good time to start thinking about finding a fitness hobby you can do indoors. One option that is growing more and more popular among young woman in China is pole dancing.
In the basement of an office building outside of the Third Ring Road in Beijing, a group of young women from all over the country come together in one classroom to learn the art of the pole.
In China, pole dancing still carries the stigma of being vulgar, so many of the girls that attend classes here haven't yet told their parents about their new hobby. Instead, they take the money they earn from their jobs and secretly enroll in courses.
The women are mainly there for three different reasons: The first group sees pole dancing as a fun and effective way to stay fit. The second group take the lessons more seriously, hoping to dance competitively and eventually join the animal rights conscious and award-winning national team. While the final group hopes to start earning some extra money via their pole dancing skills.
Check out some pics from their training sessions and see if this is the kind of thing for you (Remember: No pain, no gain. Sometimes people will have to stand on your butt.):

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/beijing_pole_dancing2.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/beijing_pole_dancing4.jpg
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Continued next post

[GeneChing]

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/beijing_pole_dancing8.jpg
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While this photoseries focuses only on young, attractive women, pole dancing has started to spread to other demographics as well like elderly women searching for health and happiness and Monkey Kings searching for who knows what:

https://www.facebook.com/shanghaiist/videos/10153813467411030/

[Images via NetEase]
Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Alex Linder in News on Dec 2, 2015 7:00 PM
Couldn't get that facebook vid to embed properly, but it's worth a peek.

[Jimbo]

Not Chinese, but pole dancing nonetheless, from Ukraine Got Talent.

Lucky pole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_E7vC2VcRY&sns= em

[GeneChing]

It was in the 'Speaking of the Ukraine...' post #3, but looks like that version was removed from YouTube. Or maybe that was another one? Is pole dancing big in the Ukraine? Anyways, thanks for the refresh (and you know you can embed YouTube vids by using the little film icon button when you post stuff).



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9FS1bxaGTg

[GeneChing]

Wonder how the delivery will go...


LOOK: Pregnant pole dancer wows the Internet by continuing to do her thing at nine months (http://shanghaiist.com/2016/03/22/pregnant_dancer.php)

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/liaoning-mon-1.jpg

Pictures of a 27-year-old mother-to-be have taken over the Chinese Internet recently, astounding netizens with her flexibility and skills on the pole.
Zhao Zhitong, who is nine months pregnant, works as a gymnastics and pole dance instructor in Anshan city, Liaoning province. Zhao told reporters that during her pregnancy she has continued to teach her students and practice dancing. When she was four months pregnant, she even signed up for a national pole dancing competition, and won sixth place.
"If they'd known about my pregnancy, I wouldn't have stood a chance," Zhao says.
Apparently, Zhao approached her employers about taking some time off for maternity leave; however, they couldn't believe that was she was pregnant, because she certainly didn't look it.
All of her students were also shocked when they first learned that she is expecting a baby at the beginning of April.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/liaoning-mon-4.jpg

While some netizens admired Zhao's boldness, others expressed their concern that what Zhao was doing would affect the health of her baby. However, the director of Obstetrics and Gynecology at a Liaoning hospital said that it's good for childbirth if a woman who likes doing exercises maintains her routine during pregnancy.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/liaoning-mon-3.jpg

Zhao isn't the first pregnant woman to make headlines for continuing to do what she loves. Back in 2014, two badass pregnant women in Henan took home silver medals in a local dancing competition.
And, of course, there's this young woman:


By Lucy Liu
[Images via Tencent]
Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Shanghaiist in News on Mar 22, 2016 2:20 PM

[GeneChing]

Not Chinese, Japanese. And in Italy. And at age 70. :eek:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_tjCib_viY


This thread has gotten odd. :o

[GeneChing]

Clearly it's completely different culturally in China. Variations of pole dancing exist in traditional Chinese acrobatics so it isn't viewed as prurient like it is here in America.

But still...:rolleyes:


5 Year-Old Girl Celebrates Children’s Day with Controversial Pole Dancing Performance (https://thenanfang.com/5-year-old-chinese-girl-celebrates-childrens-day-pole-dancing-performance/)
It's like a jungle gym, but different

https://thenanfang.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/5-year-old-pole-dancer-Chen-Luozhen-02.jpg
https://thenanfang.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/5-year-old-pole-dancer-Chen-Luozhen-04-900x600.jpg
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China celebrated International Children’s Day in grand style yesterday with a televised gala including Chinese pop idol groups TF Boys and SHN48. Unofficially, people throughout the country celebrated the annual “festival” in their own way, as did a five year-old girl who gave a public pole dancing performance in the southern province of Hainan dressed in a red polka-dot bikini.

The performance took place next to the Haikou Century Bridge in Haikou, where Chen Luozhen showed off her moves after just six months of training with support from her mother.

With pole dancing having its roots in strip clubs, some people object to children participating in it. However, with there being no strip clubs in China, pole dancing does not carry the same negative connotations it does in the west. In fact, the introduction of pole dancing has become so positively regarded in the country that the China Daily said pole dancing has “shake(n) off its ill repute in China”.

Everyone is doing it: even the elderly. Dai Dali is 70. “I like pole dance because I enjoy the feeling of gyrating on air,” she said.

Likewise, Chinese children have been known to engage in the art of mid-air choreography.

https://thenanfang.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/pole-dance-kids-02.png

Last October, the national pole dancing competition of China featured children as young as six years-old (seen above). In 2014, a video of a “super cute” young girl using a handrail on the subway to “pole dance” went viral on the Chinese internet.

Nonetheless, some stigma over pole dancing still remains, and controversies over the activity have happened before in China.

https://thenanfang.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/pole-dancer-teacher-01.jpg

In 2012, a Wuhan kindergarten teacher was criticized for pole dancing on a Chinese television show (seen above). Netizens weren’t upset at her performance, but that she worked as a kindergarten teacher. One person wrote, “If children from her class happened to watch the show, wouldn’t this negatively impact the children?”

China’s most recent pole dancing development was of a expat woman who pole danced on the Tianjin Metro as other commuters watched.

Source: People's Daily Online, China Youth Report, Hi News, China Economics, Hexun, Mango TV, NetEase, QQ News, eNorth, Sohu Learning, China Daily, China Daily
Photos: Sohu Learning, People's Daily Online, China Youth Report,

Charles Liu
The Nanfang's Senior Editor

[GeneChing]

China's pole-dancing team withdraws from global championship after their flag is not flown (http://shanghaiist.com/2016/12/15/pole_dancing_flag_fuss.php)
BY ALEX LINDER IN NEWS ON DEC 15, 2016 4:24 PM

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/pole_dancing_flag5.jpg

For Chinese athletes, there's something that's even more important than the medals, the records, the championships -- the national flag.
China's national pole-dancing team pulled out of a global championship contest in Italy last week after organizers failed to display a Chinese flag outside of the venue.
When they first arrived at the World Pole Sport Championships in Florence on Friday, Chinese pole dancers couldn't help but notice that among the row of flags surrounding the championship venue, a Chinese national flag could not be found.
Immediately, the team protested that glaring absence to the contest's organizing committee. While they waited for a response, they put up a flag themselves.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/pole_dancing_flag2.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/pole_dancing_flag.jpg
http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/pole_dancing_flag3.jpg

An official soon told the team that a flag pole had been broken, but promised to have it fixed by the semi-finals on Saturday, CCTV-5 reported.
But, when the semi-finals ended, there was no still Chinese flag to be seen. In protest, the five Chinese pole dancers who had qualified for the finals decided to withdraw from the rest of the competition.
For patriotic Chinese athletes and fans, the national flag is a very big deal. However, organizers don't tend to treat the old red and yellow with quite so much reverence. A national uproar erupted during the 2016 Rio Olympics this summer when Chinese viewers noticed that flawed Chinese flags were being flown during the medal ceremonies.
After apologizing, it took the Olympic committee six days to get some non-flawed flags at the event.
[Images via NetEase]
What is up with all the issues with the Chinese flag at international competitions? Doesn't China make all the flags for everyone already?

[GeneChing]

Hold the phone...Why does China have a national pole-dancing team? Does the U.S. have one? Does Taiwan? What about Tibet? :rolleyes:


LOOK: National pole-dancing team performs in China's northernmost village at -33°C! (http://shanghaiist.com/2016/12/21/freezing_pole_dancers.php)
BY ALEX LINDER IN NEWS ON DEC 21, 2016 7:10 PM

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/freezing_pole_dancing.jpg

For some odd reason, extremely cold temperatures are making people take off their clothes this winter. The latest example of this strange phenomenon occurred yesterday when China's national pole-dancing team made their annual visit to Beiji village.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/freezing_pole_dancing2.jpg

Located in Heilongjiang's Mohe county, Beiji is China's northernmost village and therefore can get quite chilly. This year, pole dancers performed their routines with the mercury dropping down to minus 33 degrees Celsius.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/freezing_pole_dancing3.jpg

Still, that's practically a tropical vacation compared to last year when they battled temperatures of 50 degrees centigrade below zero.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/freezing_pole_dancing4.jpg

Members of the national pole dancing team have been visiting the freezing village each year since 2012. In doing so, they seem to have inspired other pole dancers. Last week, a group of pole dancers put on a performance in Jilin for an ice and snow festival with the temperature at minus 16 degrees Celsius.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/freezing_pole_dancing5.jpg
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Hot or cold?

[Images via NetEase / NetEase]

[GeneChing]

This story is so wonderfully weird. So China.


The strange journey of a Chinese Internet addict — from cybercafes to pole dancing (http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-internet-addicts-20170326-story.html)
ZHENGZHOU, CHINA - OCTOBER 20: (CHINA OUT)

http://www.trbimg.com/img-58d6fc50/turbine/la-1490484390-ukofwbwc3b-snap-image/750/750x422
People play at a net bar in Zhengzhou, China. (VCG / VCG via Getty Images)
Yanan Wang

After spending three days and three nights at an Internet cafe, Hou Xing reluctantly parted with his keyboard, stepped out into the blistering sun and collapsed.

His parents found him there a few hours later, barely conscious. At 14, Hou was thin as a rail, with a back curved from hours spent hunched over a computer screen. His days were consumed by "The World of Legend," a massive, multiplayer, online role-playing game that took precedence over eating and sleeping.

Today, it is hard to imagine Hou, 23, without his athletic build — his arms capable of keeping his entire body suspended in the air, his back straight as a plank.

A chance encounter during his Internet-addled days in China’s Zhejiang province transformed Hou into a nationally-ranked pole dancer who has little time for games.

Far from the sensual performances of Las Vegas strip clubs, pole dancing in China is a combination of sport and dance, with influence from traditional Chinese acrobatics. Athleticism and elegance are judged in equal measure at regional competitions.

"Pole dancing is my entire life," Hou said as he was warming up one Saturday at the Ning Ning Professional Pole Dancing Studio, one of five studios in Beijing where he works as an instructor. "It's given me direction."

http://www.trbimg.com/img-58adca84/turbine/la-1487784652-ovf7kg5r8d-snap-photo/750/750x422
Hou Xing, 23, teaches a basic pole dancing technique course. (Yanan Wang / For The Times) (Yanan Wang / Los Angeles Times)

In China, where an estimated 24 million young people are Internet addicts, Hou is an oddity for having cured himself. The country — the first to declare Internet addiction a clinical disorder in 2008 — has been a laboratory of controversial treatment methods.

“Web Junkie,” a PBS documentary that aired last summer, went inside a military-style Internet addiction treatment center in Beijing, where kids wore camouflage print uniforms and lived in barred dorms.

In 2009, a teenager was beaten to death at one such boot camp, while another was hospitalized with broken ribs and kidney damage. In September, Chinese media reported that a girl kept her mother tied to a chair for a week in retaliation for being sent to an abusive treatment center. Her mother died of starvation.

The Chinese government drafted a law in January that aims to curtail extreme rehab methods. The regulation, targeted at electroshock therapy and beatings, would forbid individuals and organizations from inflicting mental and physical harm on juveniles in seeking to cure their Internet addiction.

The legislation, still in draft form, would also require Internet cafes to limit the amount of time minors can play online games, prohibiting gaming between midnight and 8 a.m.

According to the Center for Net Addiction in New York, problematic Internet use — when a preoccupation with being online interferes with work and personal life — is common in China, where rigid educational structure and pressure to succeed academically can push adolescents to seek escape online, said Marcella Szablewicz, an assistant professor at Pace University who studies Chinese Internet culture.

“I compare it to drinking culture in the U.S.,” Szablewicz said.

Hou was drawn to computer games under the heavy influence of his classmates.

Many of them were just as absorbed in online gaming as he was, and they went to great lengths to feed their habit. Sometimes, Hou stole money from his parents — “never more than 10 yuan,” he said (about $1.50) — for gaming.

Hou left school when he was 17, after gaming took a toll on his grades and his parents seemed to have given up on him. He traveled across southern China, taking factory jobs that paid no more than a few hundred dollars a month.

Whatever he had left over from rent, he used on Internet cafes. He and his fellow factory workers went as a group at the end of their shifts, gaming through the night and going straight to work the next morning. They slept during their breaks and took naps on the job.

"The World of Legend" was Hou’s world. During his gaming marathons, he subsisted on instant noodles and bread. When he couldn’t keep his eyes open, he rested his head on the desk and slept, only to awaken within hours to resume his virtual quests.

Hou traversed the universe of the Chinese fantasy game with growing fervor. In the game he could be a magician or a warrior; he could slay a winged beast with the flick of a wand.

There were always more quests to complete and more villains to vanquish. His future inside the game seemed more assured than his future outside it.

Until, that is, he found a way back to reality.

“I was sitting in a bar where a male pole dancer was performing,” Hou said. “His moves were so elegant, so cool.”

After the show, Hou went up to him and asked how much money he made. The answer was more than $1,500 a month (the average worker in a Chinese city makes about half that).

Hou was shocked. At the time, he already had two jobs, but their salaries combined were less than the pole dancer's.

Starting at 4:30 every morning, Hou worked at a supermarket; at night, he delivered packages. In the afternoons, he began taking pole dancing lessons.

http://www.trbimg.com/img-58adcb6d/turbine/la-1487784885-0zv5od1e1c-snap-photo/750/750x422
Hou Xing teaches a basic pole dancing technique course. (Yanan Wang / For The Times) (Yanan Wang / Los Angeles Times)

He hated it at first. He could barely grip the pole because his hands were weak, and his back strained to stay upright. But his coach lent him money and his classmates encouraged him to keep going.

On his first day at the pole dancing studio, Hou’s cellphone broke. With the expense of the classes, he couldn’t afford to buy a new one or visit an Internet cafe. For the next four months, Hou didn't play any online games. At the end of his introductory classes, with his hands steady and his posture mended, he realized he no longer wanted to.

Since he started pole dancing, Hou hasn’t set foot in an Internet cafe.

“I was so stubborn,” he said. “I used to think there was no point in doing anything. I didn’t listen to my parents or my teachers. But after I started pole dancing, my focus shifted. My goals became clear.”

He has already accomplished some of his goals, like taking third place in the men's category at the National Pole Dancing Championships last year, or making more money than the pole dancer who first inspired him to learn the craft. Hou's days are filled with performances, classes, TV appearances and practice.

http://www.trbimg.com/img-58adcad4/turbine/la-1487784732-td8t3ykkcm-snap-photo/750/750x422
Hou Xing, 23, performs his signature pole dancing move, "the clock hand." (Yanan Wang / For The Times) (Yanan Wang / Los Angeles Times)

His favorite pole dancing move is called “the clock hand.” To pull it off, Hou grips the pole with both hands as his feet flutter forward, propelling his body in a 360 degree rotation. Every muscle tenses, but Hou’s movements remain lithe. He looks like he is walking on air.

Wang is a special correspondent.

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JktdQ0iasw0

[GeneChing]

Former construction worker becomes first Chinese winner of top pole dancing contest (http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2113372/former-construction-worker-becomes-first-chinese-winner-top-pole)
Six years after hanging up his tool belt, 22-year-old Sun Ying Zhi beats the world’s best at Pole Art France 2017
PUBLISHED : Friday, 29 September, 2017, 2:24pm
UPDATED : Friday, 29 September, 2017, 2:24pm
Kristin Huang

https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2017/09/29/d3d14b64-a4c7-11e7-84b5-dfc1701cb40c_1280x720_142416.JPG

Sun Ying Zhi, 22, from southwest China’s Sichuan province, said he first became aware of the activity while browsing online.
“The job was so dull, then one day, I happened to see a video of a man pole dancing and was stunned by his strength and skill,” he was quoted as saying in a social media report by Chengdu Commercial Daily on Thursday.
Sun was just 16 at the time, but he was so impressed by what he saw that he erected a steel pole in his dormitory room and began practising.
He recorded what he was doing and sent his videos to talent agents in the hope of getting work as a pole dancer. After about six months his efforts paid off and he began getting paid work.

https://cdn4.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/09/29/d26ef1e0-a4c7-11e7-84b5-dfc1701cb40c_972x_142416.JPG
Sun (right) said he had to battle a lot of prejudice to make the grade in the world of competitive pole dancing. Photo: Handout

He also started entering competitions and soon after won a small local contest.
“After winning my first championship, some gyms asked me to work for them as a pole dancing coach,” he said.
“I was only earning 2,000 yuan (US$300) a month as a construction worker, but working as a pole dancing coach, I could make several hundred yuan a day, so I gave up my job in construction.”
Although Sun was doing well financially, he said he still had a lot of prejudice to overcome.
“Pole dancing is not widely accepted in China as many people regard it as vulgar and pornographic,” he said.
“My parents were my biggest critics. My father demanded I stop because he thought I was causing him to lose face.”
But Sun was not to be deterred and in 2012, he entered the First China Pole Championship, and finished last.
“I wasn’t discouraged because I knew my skills lagged behind the other contestants. I made friends with them and practised more diligently,” he said, adding that he practised for an extra five hours a day for a whole year.
His hard work paid off. In the same contest 12 months later, Sun took home a prize and in 2014, he won the Best Performance Prize at the World Pole Sport & Fitness Championships in London, his first in an international competition.
That victory helped him to win over his parents and elevated his profile in China so much that he opened a pole dancing academy in Guangzhou, an industrial city in southern China’s Guangdong province.
Pole dancing is still not very popular among Chinese men, but Sun said he is hoping that his success will help to change attitudes.

Anyone ever been to the World Pole Sport & Fitness Championships?

[GeneChing]

This news item is a few months old - I found it off a link from the news above.


Taiwan festival celebrates raunchy tradition ... with pole dancers (http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2097816/taiwan-festival-celebrates-raunchy-tradition-pole-dancers)
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 11 June, 2017, 2:47pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 11 June, 2017, 10:54pm
Agence France-Presse

https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2017/06/11/7d80f5d2-4e61-11e7-a842-aa003dd7e62a_1280x720_144702.jpg

Dozens of pole dancers performed on ornate neon floats at a festival in Taipei on Saturday in celebration of one of the island’s more eyebrow raising cultural traditions.
The event sought to promote Taiwan’s famous dianzi huache or “electronic flower trucks”, travelling floats loaded with garish lights in the shape of everything from dragons to ferris wheels.
The trucks are used to take performers, usually scantily-clad women and musicians, to private and public events, including weddings and even funerals, and are particularly popular in smaller towns and rural areas.

https://cdn1.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/06/11/7cc76d56-4e61-11e7-a842-aa003dd7e62a_972x_144702.jpg
Photo: AFP

The tradition, dating back to the 1970s, reflects Taiwan’s folk religion and culture, which is a unique mixture of the spiritual and the earthly.
Meet Leon Yee, the male pole dancer who defies gender stereotypes

For some, the trucks and their colourful performers are seen as the best way to create maximum fun and noise at important events.
But critics dismiss them as vulgar and tawdry.
Over the decades, performances on the trucks usually featured striptease, with pole dancing a more recent addition.

https://cdn1.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/06/11/7cf61fb6-4e61-11e7-a842-aa003dd7e62a_1320x770_144702.jpg
Stripping nude is rarely seen in public now because it is a criminal offence, but partial stripping is still often performed, even at grave sites.
Photo: AFP

Spokeswoman Wang Yi-ting said Saturday’s “Taiwan Colour Stage Fest”, which is in its second year, aimed to bring the flower truck tradition to the capital, where it is less known than in central and southern Taiwan.
Pole dancers performed to pop music on 22 trucks at a square near the capital’s landmark skyscraper Taipei 101 as the crowds enjoyed snacks and free beer, despite the rain.
There was no stripping and dancers were instructed to wear “more conservative” outfits, Wang said.

https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/06/11/7d2b68ba-4e61-11e7-a842-aa003dd7e62a_972x_144702.jpg
“We also want to encourage people in this unique and traditional performing business who are concerned about being eliminated in today’s diverse and digitalised entertainment industry,” Wang added.
Photo: AFP

The event was partly inspired by a book by acclaimed Taiwanese photographer Shen Chao-liang, who travelled across the island to shoot the floats.

[GeneChing]

New Olympic candidates: arm-wrestling, dodgeball, poker, kettlebell lifting, footgolf, foosball & pole dancing


Pole-dancing in the Olympics? International sports federation recognition helps pave the way. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/10/18/pole-dancing-in-the-olympics-international-sports-federation-recognition-helps-pave-the-way/?utm_term=.5b4622a1dca9)
By Marissa Payne October 18 at 4:15 PM

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_960w/2010-2019/Wires/Images/2017-10-17/Getty/AFP_TH06D.jpg&w=1484
Pole-dancing is emerging as a sport — and a clean one in more ways than one. Their clothes stay on, and top-level participants must comply with World Anti-Doping Agency standards. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

No strip club necessary. Pole-dancing now stands on its own as a provisionally recognized sport thanks to the Global Association of International Sports Federation, which granted the activity’s international governing federation “observer status” earlier this month.

“Pole Sports is a performance sport combining dance and acrobatics on a vertical pole,” GAISF writes on its website. “Pole Sports requires great physical and mental exertion, strength and endurance are required to lift, hold and spin the body. A high degree of flexibility is needed to contort, pose, demonstrate lines and execute techniques.”

Observer status is the first step international federations must achieve before becoming full GAISF members, which serves as a great boost for any sport hoping to one day land in the Olympics. And that is exactly pole-dancing’s goal, according to International Pole Sports Federation President Katie Coates, who lauded the day the decision was made on Oct. 2 as “historical.”

“The IPSF is very proud to have taken this positive step towards official recognition and the GAISF Observer Status will give our sport the opportunity to develop further, on the national and on the international stage,” she said in a statement. “In just eight years we have created a sport, ignited a global following and inspired a new generation of sportsmen, [sports]women and children. I am thankful to the IPSF and GAISF teams and excited about the future of our sport.”

The road to the Olympics isn’t short, however. Along with a recognized governing body, prospective sports must also gain separate recognition from the International Olympic Committee. Provisional IOC recognition lasts three years, during which committee members decide whether to give it full recognition. If successful, the sport’s governing body still needs to then petition to become an official Olympic sport, which can take several more years.

For Coates, however, those obstacles do not sound insurmountable, considering the uphill battle she said she faced while campaigning to gain provisional recognition from the GAISF.

“I feel like we have achieved the impossible,” she told the Telegraph this week. “Everyone told us that we would not be able to get pole-dancing recognized as a sport.”

Today, pole-dancing competitions are as family-friendly as any sporting event — and just as well regulated.

The IPSF outlines its rules, judging and other criteria in its 137-page document, that lays out guidelines for several categories of competition, ranging from youth to mixed doubles to para-competition. Pole dancers are even required to take doping tests to ensure the sport is clean.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdmuKEyJHpw

Watching a competition is akin to attending a dance recital of sorts, where the athletes, often dressed in sparkly two-piece outfits or leotards, perform choreographed routines set to music on two 20-foot poles on a spotlighted stage. One pole rotates while the other is static, which allows athletes to perform different types of tricks as outlined in the rule book.

The IPSF even began holding its own world championships in 2012. Russia’s Anna Chigarina is the current women’s champion.

“Pole-dancing is not like everyone thinks it is,” Coates said. “You need to actually watch it to understand.”

Six other international federations joined pole-dancing in gaining provisional recognition from the GAISF this month. They include some other eyebrow-raising activities, including arm-wrestling, dodgeball, poker and kettlebell lifting, as well as FootGolf, a sport that combines soccer and golf, and table soccer, which is better known as foosball.

“We warmly welcome our first Observers,” GAISF President Patrick Baumann said in a statement. “This is an exciting time for them and for us and we will do everything within our remit to help them realize their full potential as International Federations within the global sport’s family and, one day, maybe become part of the Olympic program.”

Olympics (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?64475-2020-Tokyo-Olympics) & Pole Dancing (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?68633-Chinese-Pole-Dancing)

[GeneChing]

There's vid if you click to Standaert's twitfeed. I wonder if anything would've happened if it didn't get the attention from a western journalist. As I've pointed out on this thread, pole dancing doesn't always have the stripping stigma in PRC that it does here in the West.


Chinese kindergarten principal fired after kids welcomed with pole dance (https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/04/asia/china-pole-dancing-school-intl/index.html)
CNN Digital Expansion 2017. Ben Westcott
By Ben Westcott and Serenitie Wang, CNN
Updated 12:57 AM ET, Tue September 4, 2018

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/180904125053-china-pole-dancing-kindergarten01-exlarge-169.jpg
A pole dancing display put on in front of children and parents at a Chinese kindergarten in Shenzhen on Monday, September 3.

(CNN)A Chinese kindergarten principal has been fired after she welcomed students back to school at the beginning of term with a pole dancing display.

Hundreds of children and parents at the Xinshahui kindergarten in Shenzhen, in the southern province of Guangdong, watched as a female pole dancer performed on a flag pole in a large courtyard.
Videos posted by parents on Monday show the skimpily-dressed dancer spinning and leaning seductively on the flagpole, from which a Chinese flag was flying.
Speaking to state media, the principal Lai Rong said there had been 500 children aged three to six and 100 parents in attendance.


Michael Standaert (https://twitter.com/mstandaert/status/1036438876871520256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1036465874826219520%7Ctwcon %5Elogo&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2018%2F09%2F04 %2Fasia%2Fchina-pole-dancing-school-intl%2Findex.html)
@mstandaert
· Sep 2, 2018
So before our kids got out of kindergarten for the summer, there was 10 days of military "activities" and displays of machine guns and mortars at the door; now the principal has welcomed them back with a strip pole dance on the flagpole bearing the PRC flag. She's gone nuts. pic.twitter.com/BJr4UI6Oq3



Michael Standaert
@mstandaert
Who would think this is a good idea? We're trying to pull the kids out of the school and get our tuition back. They wouldn't give us the number of the company that owns the school, but looking into that. pic.twitter.com/vEdIhuq774

9:08 PM - Sep 2, 2018

238
232 people are talking about this
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The first Monday in September is the start of a new school year in China and schools often hold ceremonies to mark the occasion, usually involving motivating speeches by the principal or alumni.
Shenzhen-based journalist Michael Standaert said on social media he had planned to take his children out of the school following the performance.
"Before our kids got out of kindergarten for the summer, there was 10 days of military 'activities' and displays of machine guns and mortars at the door; now the principal has welcomed them back with a strip pole dance," Standaert wrote on his Twitter account.
Standaert said there were advertisements around the courtyard for a pole dancing school. The writer said when his wife called the principal to complain, the official hung up after saying it was "good exercise."
Speaking to CNN, Standaert said some students were "uncomfortable" with the performance, but added things were now moving back to normal under a new principal.



Michael Standaert
@mstandaert
So before our kids got out of kindergarten for the summer, there was 10 days of military "activities" and displays of machine guns and mortars at the door; now the principal has welcomed them back with a strip pole dance on the flagpole bearing the PRC flag. She's gone nuts.

7:20 PM - Sep 2, 2018
409
326 people are talking about this
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In a statement posted to Weibo on Monday afternoon, the local education bureau said an investigation had found a pole dancing business had been invited into the kindergarten to perform.
"The district education bureau believes performing pole dancing for kindergarten children is not appropriate," the statement said, adding the school had been asked to apologize to students and parents.
Principal Lai told state tabloid Global Times that while "a few parents" had requested a refund, others wanted to "learn a new type of dance."
She said she arranged the dance because of the dancer's "excellent skills."

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m9t8MEeOLA

threads
Chinese-Pole-Dancing (http://http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?68633-Chinese-Pole-Dancing)
Wushu (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?28273-Wushu)