Dancing and jogging, China's elderly swarm onto public spaces(2)

Resistance grows

Guangchangwu activities have met with strong resistance.

Zhang said that whenever he is near the square, he is unable to do many things. The noise means he can't take phone calls, he can't watch videos, and every sound is drowned out by the music.

"I think public spaces have certain rules. If a group of people make loud noises there, that's breaking the rules," he said.

Many people feel the same way about guangchangwu, and these voices are often heard in media reports.

In April 2013, residents threw water bombs at dancers in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Local community workers came to mediate between the residents and dancers but failed. The conflict persisted.

Water bombs are far from the worst things that have been flung at dancers. In Wuhan, Hubei Province, a group of elderly women were sprayed with urine and excrement for dancing near the residential buildings and making noise at night, the Wuhan Evening News reported.

When conflicts break out, there isn't a mechanism for solving them and these primitive methods of protests have continued.

In Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, a draft was issued on noise pollution. It stated that people who entertain, exercise or celebrate on streets, squares and parks next to residential compounds should use measures to reduce the noise. If the noise gets too loud, they can be fined 200 yuan each.

But the plan still hasn't provided a solution for where these women can go if they are banned from dancing at certain places.

Meeting resistance, some dancers have switched to other exercise methods, but are still being criticized.

A group of dama instead became power-walking "mobs." In Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, many people complained that at precisely 7:30 pm every day, the local dama, up to 1,000 in number, would line up in threes and power walk. Sometimes they even block traffic, the Nanjing-based Modern Express reported.

Some have switched to more creative ways. Media reported that a group of dama in Chongqing Municipality started wearing wireless headsets and danced without the music.

Ding said her group was careful to choose a time suitable for other residents in the area. She said the group starts at around dinner time and finishes when the park closes at 10, a time that most people are still awake. Besides, the music is turned down to an audible level only and shouldn't disturb anyone, she said.

City planning failure

There is nothing else they can do if they receive complaints, Ding said.

"We don't have any other venues," she said. "Chaoyang Park is too far. Around here, we only have Tuanjiehu Park, and all other places are residential compounds."

Statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs show that in 2013, there were more than 200 million senior citizens in China, which represents 15 percent of the entire population. In cities such as Shanghai or Beijing, the proportion might be well over 20 percent.

Out of the people over 60 in China, only 3 percent are able to attend education facilities for the elderly, and 562 people on average share one activity room. There are few facilities built for elderly citizens.

"There's nothing wrong with the dama wanting to exercise, they just have to keep it down so that they don't bother any residents, which I think most people are capable of doing," Hu Xingdou, a political science professor with the Beijing Institute of Technology, told the Global Times.

"However, the key issue is that cities and communities in China should leave enough space, especially green space, for these people. In China, the average number of public exercise facilities is only one-10th of what Japan has," he said.

Right now, there is not enough space to satisfy all the demand. The Guangdong-based Qingyuan Daily reported in 2013 that two groups of dancers in the city fought for a square to dance in. Over 200 people danced in an area that was only 50 square meters.

After the fight, one of the teams shifted to another square nearby, but three teams of dancers were already fighting over that area. The manager of the park told media that in that district, there are only 13 squares, but there are over 40 teams, each with at least 100 people.

Besides the issue of design, another problem is places such as schools or gyms aren't open after hours, so there's no other place aside from residential areas for them to dance in, Qiu said.

"I think the dama, government and residents should work together on this issue. The dama should understand that other people need to rest and make compromises on the method and time of their exercise. Society should have a mechanism for conflict resolution and residents shouldn't fight back only to make it worse. And the government should open up more public space for more dancing squares away from the residents," he said.