Where China opens up, hip hop jumps in
Print Edition
AS China continues to open up and import physical products and ideas from the outside world, the modern Western dance of hip-hop has managed to be absorbed into Chinese society.
But how and why has hip-hop gained such a foothold? What happened?
Han Wang is known as the godfather of hip-hop in Shanghai having taught hip hop dancing for over a decade in the city. Another godfather is Kai Pu, in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Their base can be traced to famous Japanese hip hop coach Ohji, who influenced and personally taught many other prominent Chinese hip hop coaches.
“It is a combination of television shows, Internet videos, and other hip hop events coming from the United States that continue to influence our development of the dance,” says Zhang Jianpeng, coach of TI, the recent Hip Hop International China mega crew champion.
Hip hop within China is influenced by both the United States and Japan. But there are also important local developments.
Ye Zheng, an HHI judge and coach who participated in the competition with his mega crew team, Wiik Family, says different regions of China are known for different styles of dance, such as Shanghai’s usage of “old school” styles that consist of popping and locking while Beijing is known for incorporating a lot of urban-style dance.
“Urban-style dance is a quite recent phenomenon as it became popular in the 2000s and is defined by the fact that the dance is a blending of other dances or is a dance that cannot be assigned to one specific category so it has received its own designation,” says Ye.
“This is in comparison to the locking and popping styles which were developed during the 1960s and 1970s.”
A reflection of how intense, serious and prized hip hop dancing in China has become is the gap between the awards given at the HHI events. The HHI World Championship mega crew champions received about US$8,000 while the HHI China mega crew champions won US$60,000.
Members of UPeepz, the 2017 mega crew World Hip Hop Dance champion team, put on a special guest performance.
UPeepz crew members were surprised by the prize money, saying “to win the HHI World Championship is more about having the bragging rights.”
To compare China with the rest, check out the World Hip Hop Dance Championship in which hip hop champions from around the world will head to the heat of Pheonix, Arizona, the United States on August 5-11.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
