Pole dancing hits the mainstream

Aside from the fact that 25% of the population are smokers, China has always been a health conscious country. Strolling through the beautifully manicured parks and gardens of Shanghai, it is not rare to see people from the age of 15 to 85 working out on the outdoor exercise machines, practicing tai chi or people walking backward around the park to ensure that every muscle group is used.

Jimmy Wang offers an insight in the International Herald Tribune that the a pole dancing craze is now sweeping across the country. He reports that:

A nightclub activity mostly considered the domain of strippers in the United States, pole dancing — but with clothes kept on — is nudging its way into the mainstream Chinese exercise market, with increasing numbers of gyms and dance schools offering classes.

He also reports that the entrepreneur who claims to have brought pole dancing to the gyms and dance studios of China is a 39 woman from Jiangxi who first saw it in a bar in Paris.

There are so many things that we could say to sound witty and clever about this story but really we're just pleased that someone had the entrepreneurial foresight to do this.

Photo by Jo T