Dancing aunties not happy about being banned from Shanghai martyrs cemetery

The aunties have been accused of disturbing the sanctity of the cemetery with their boomboxes

On April 12th, 1927, the Kuomintang Party launched an infamous purge of Communist Party members in Shanghai. In the aftermath, thousands of suspected Communists were rounded up and taken to the Longhua Temple in central Xuhui District to be executed.

Almost seven decades later, the Shanghai government opened a martyrs cemetery near the temple, commemorating those who had been killed. The cemetery is the largest of its kind in the city, encompassing the temple’s former gardens and park. It features a museum, numerous monuments and statues, as well as quite a lot of empty space.

That last feature has made it the ideal location for women of a certain age to get together and dance the morning/afternoon/night away, something which at least a few visitors have apparently found inappropriate.

According to Shine, the Longhua Revolutionary Martyr’s Cemetery recently received several letters complaining about how the dancing aunties were disturbing the peace and sanctity of the martyrs’ graves.

The Xuhui government has responded by posting notices around the cemetery grounds, banning visitors from dancing, playing music, and playing cards within the site. However, the cemetery’s security guards have found that stopping aunties from dancing is easier said than done.

“What we can do is patrol the cemetery and dissuade the dancers from doing so, though in most cases it is in vain,” one security guard told Shine, explaining that the last thing they wanted to happen was to ignite a dispute that could end in one of the elderly women getting hurt — thus becoming a martyr for her cause and presumably demanding a fortune in compensation.

Meanwhile, the aunties say that all they want to do is dance and exercise with some noting that they have lived in the area since before the temple park was even transformed into a martyrs cemetery.

Of course, this is far from the first time that China’s dancing aunties have squared off against the government. Last year, a police officer in Sichuan province trying to stop a group of elderly ladies from disturbing a student’s gaokao preparations was bruised by one auntie’s iron grip.

Over the years, dancing aunties have been reported, regulated, and even shot at. But, nevertheless, they just keep on boogieing on.

[Images via Shine]