Public K-pop dance performances are growing in popularity in China, but does their proliferation point to female empowerment or the perpetuation of the male gaze?
Tami Jiang, a 26-year-old high school teacher, tends to stay out of the spotlight. However, this April, in a bustling shopping mall in central Beijing, all eyes were on her when she and her fellow dancers captivated the crowd with choreography to the latest viral K-pop hit, “Sheesh.”
“I’ve never looked better on camera!” Jiang chirped to a friend after reviewing a video of her performance. Jiang, who agreed to be interviewed under a pseudonym, soon posted the video to Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform especially popular among female users. Jiang’s routine joined the 580,000 other dance performance videos under the hashtag “luyan (路演),” or roadshow, shared by enthusiasts across the platform.
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