Salsa Dancing with ‘Chinese Characteristics’: In Search of Cosmopolitan Identity Markers

• In Event: Media, Music, and Popular Culture

Abstract

Salsa dancing is a relatively recent phenomenon in China. Evidence shows that it started in the late 1990s with the presence of Latin American diplomats in Beijing and has been gradually growing and spreading to other cities without the aid of the mass media and as an international dance style quite different from the social dances practiced in Latin America. This paper examines the social, economic and political factors that facilitated salsa’s insertion in China, as well as the agency of diplomats, dance instructors, musicians, and enthusiasts who have been influential in its dissemination around major cities of the country. Why did it take so long for salsa to emerge in China if the economic reforms and opening to the West started in the late 1970s? Is Chinese people’s enthusiasm for salsa a result of the increasing trade and commercial relationships between China and Latin America in the past decade? Is it due to the influence of the TV show "Dancing with the Stars"? What meanings does salsa convey to Chinese dancers? Based on interviews and ethnographic research conducted in Beijing and Shanghai between 2012 and 2014, I argue that salsa dancing is popular among urban middle-class Chinese in their 30s and 40s who seek new identity markers to express a sense of modernity and cosmopolitanism in the midst of China’s rapid urbanization and economic reforms.

Author

• Ketty A Wong, University of Kansas