China Cracks Down on Exotic Dancers at Village Funerals
SHANGHAI, April 23 (UPI) — China is working with its police force to eliminate stripper performances at funerals after photos of a bra-removing dancer went viral earlier this year on Chinese social media.
The photos were taken in the city of Handan, in northern Hebei province in March, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Parents and children watched as the woman performed a dance deemed unsuitable for the audience.
China’s Ministry of Culture condemned the dancing as “obscene” in Hebei and Jiangsu provinces, and has vowed to crack down on the inappropriate funereal entertainment.
According to the Chinese government agency, six performers in Handan arrived to offer an erotic dance at a funeral for a recently deceased senior citizen. Investigations revealed the performance was found to have violated public security regulations.
The individual responsible for the dance group has been detained for 15 days and was fined about $11,300 for the incident.
Funereal stripping was first exposed in 2006, when state-run television network CCTV aired an investigation into the practice in Donghai, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province.
Strippers encourage more residents to attend funerals, and attracting large crowds to a memorial of the deceased is seen as a harbinger of good fortune in the afterlife.
Xinhua reported stripping is illegal in China.
Troupes earn about $322 for putting on as many as 20 shows a month, according to CCTV investigations.
“This has severely polluted the local cultural life,” CCTV stated at the time.
