Subway pole dancers in China, an increasing trend

Shanghai, China – People catching a subway train were surprised and entertained as a young woman took off her clothes revealing red underwear and pole danced around the subway on the night of October 8.

According to a local news company, JF Daily, the unidentified lady danced for a couple of minutes and held up a placard showing her reasons for pole dancing in public. The dancer, who claims to be a twenty- year-old teacher decided to do her exotic dance with the hope of finding a suitable husband. Her marriage requirements listed on the placard she was holding were “Don’t care about nationality, he must be mature, considerate and innocent, you are the One.”

This is not the first time that China has witnessed pole dancers inside subway trains. A pole dancing teacher in Yangzhou City, East of China’s Jiangsu province also had her share of subway pole dancing in Shanghai and Nanjing. Feifei, a 21-year-old pole dancer is proud of her pole dancing acts in public and said that she aims to prove to everyone that “pole dancing shows women’s sexiness and beauty.” Feifei further added that she is just a “messenger trying to make pole dancing more popular.” No one’s stopping Feifei from doing her subway pole dances as she plans to dance in the subways of Guangzhou and Beijing, according to reports. Early this year, there were also reports of subway pole dancing in Hong Kong.

While many people are enjoying the free strip act, some are against the emerging trend of subway performances. Just last year, a concerned Chinese law professor proposed the prohibition of pole dancing in subways to Shanghai’s local legislation. According to him, this “display of art in public places” is beyond what the public can accept and tolerate.

Pole dancing in subways has become popular as a form of expression for many women even in other parts of the world. In April 2010, three subway pole dancers in New York City rose to fame when their lap dancing act in a subway train got three million hits on YouTube. A Santiago stripper who danced on the poles of subway trains to challenge the prudishness of Chile got arrested during one of her public performances.