In its second year, the first independent dance festival in China brings lust, desire, sensuality and sexuality to the stage. The Shanghai Dance Festival initiated by Jin Xing exhibits works of dance companies from China, Denmark, Israel, Sweden and Switzerland.

It’s the show we saw from Switzerland, closing Wednesday night (tonight), by the Dutch actor and choreographer Arthur Kuggeleyn that got us hot under the collar. His composition, “Master of Complications” is a bold exploration of society and sex. The show confronts the audience, literally, to decide for itself where boundaries lie between voyeurism, desire, lust, control and restraint. The passive-active portrayal of sexual relationships is cleverly mirrored by the choreographic interaction of dancers and audience.

Kuggeleyn's style uses pulsating rhythms of ritualized movement acoustics and visuals. He calls it "trance dance", a form that oozes sexual energy and builds in a long crescendo. The climax is tomorrow night.

Venue: Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center – Drama Salon. September 24//25//26, 19:30. Tickets: 260 RMB. 288 Anfu Lu near Wukang Lu. Ticket info tel: 6327 0578

Photo by Luca Pedrotti.

The Foreign Policy magazine has a new take on international relations by reporting on the findings of the latest Durex Global Sex Survey which is touted as the world's largest survey of sexual behaviour with 317,000 participants in 41 countries. In the survey, Chinese people reported an average of 3 sexual partners and more than a third have engaged in unsafe sex. Our Hong Kong compatriots were just a tad more amorous than us but they were a lot safer. Still they were no match for the Indians who were the most committed (and safest) lovers in the whole wide world. Turkey was by far the most promiscuous nation according to the survey (looks like they're taking their secularism to heart) and Norway the least safest nation in the world when it comes to condom protection. Now the only thing we'd like to know from Durex is this: Just who were their respondents in China? Probably not our horny, corrupt officials we reckon.

Graph from Foreign Policy.

In his latest article on the recent spate of sex scandals and mistress revolts in China, Michael Sheridan of the Sunday Times (UK) dishes out the latest political gossip in Shanghai and has us wondering who his sources are! He reveals:

Every Shanghai official above a certain rank has been required in recent weeks to watch tearful video confessions by 11 of their comrades at the centre of a £200m corruption inquiry, Communist party members say.

Of course, with recent news that even letters of remorse can be plagiarised by corrupt officials facing death sentences, we're all now wondering if those eleven chaps wrote the confession scripts themselves. Sheridan has the answer:

In the video confessions Chen’s accomplices cry on cue and apologise to the people, the party and the state, all “spontaneously” reciting an ancient saying: “One mistake and sorrow for a thousand years.”

Apart from giving some good background information on why the so-called "Shanghai faction" of the party -- which was spearheaded by former mayor Chen Liangyu and "stood for unbridled globalisation and capitalism" -- had to be brought down, Sheridan also tells the interesting story of a woman by the name of Lu Jiali, whose modelling agency provided girls to entertain city officials. "Like many Chinese," the story goes, "Lu was fascinated by new technology. In her case this meant miniature video cameras.":

Nobody seems to know why Lu risked making videos of the powerful men who succumbed to the charms of her employees... Connoisseurs of Chinese intrigue are likely to conclude that spies for their political rivals must have engineered the whole thing.

If there are any Party insiders among the great readership of this blog (and no we're not referring to this or this kinda party), please send us a copy of that video! But for now, please make do with the picture above taken at Changle Lu, no less!

Related links
The Sunday Times: China set for sex scandal show trials
Shanghaiist: Corrupt officials plagiarize each other's self-criticisms
ESWN: A case of plagiarism

Photo by Swiss James of Ispyshanghai.com taken at the Toy And Clothing Market at 190 Changle Lu / Chengdu Nan Lu.