Friday Song: Social Shake, the dance of the ‘society’ subculture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITfanx1Fbcs
Remember when the world was obsessed with Psy’s K-pop single Gangnam Style, which spread like a virus? Young people in China, especially in rural areas, are having a similar craze with the shehui 社会 subculture, translated literally as “society,” referring to a type of rough-and-tumble street culture. (Earlier this week, we introduced different styles of low-cost homemade shehui-flavored skits on Kuaishou, a short video platform popular among young people in rural China.) Among the many symbols of shehui culture, you might be most familiar with Peppa Pig, which was banned on some platforms due to its association with “society” folk.
But here’s another prominent symbol of the shehui life: the “social shake” dance (社会摇 shèhuì yáo):
“Social Shake” is the name of a single from Chinese singer Xiao Quan 萧全, the video for which — embedded above — went viral in 2015. While Xiao didn’t invent the “social shake” dance, he successfully blended elements from other subcultures, such as music from the Mandopop dance song “Little Apple” (小苹果 xiǎo píngguo), and plaza dancing, the kind that grannies do on public squares. The social shake — usually accompanied by electronic music — does not have a specific move-set, so it’s easily imitated by amateur video makers. Typically, it features a group of dancers doing a series of impromptu or self-choreographed movements such as nodding, waist-wriggling, and shoulder-wiggling.
China’s most famous social shake video producer, Paipaiqi, had 33 million followers on Kuaishou, and allegedly purchased luxurious townhouses in his home city of Harbin before his account was taken down by the platform, which accused him of spreading vulgar content.
Xiao Quan, to the best of our knowledge, has had no such problems. We’ve translated the lyrics of his song below.
Narrator:
在很久很久以前，有一群传说中的社会青年，
A long time ago, there was a group of so-called shehui people
每当月圆之夜，他们都会举行一种古老而神秘的仪式
Every full-moon night, they gathered for an ancient and mysterious ritual
Xiao Quan:
奥特曼 奥特曼
Ultraman, Ultraman
打怪兽 打怪兽
Fight monsters, fight monsters
买个表 买个表
Buy a watch, buy a watch [买个表 — mǎi gè biǎo — sounds like the word for “motherf**ker”]
小蛮腰 小蛮腰
Small waistline, small waistline
Hello Mr. DJ
这节奏不要停
Don’t stop the rhythm
我脑袋里在开 party
My brain’s throwing a party
不晃都不行
I can’t stop shaking
请给我一分钟
Give me a minute
让意识空白的权利
Leave my consciousness blank
什么烦恼什么忧愁
Let troubles and worries
全都给我滚出去
Get out of my way
音乐节拍太重
The rhythm is too heavy
酒精在起作用
The alcohol is working
灯光不停转动
The lights keep spinning
让人想要放纵
Making me want to free myself
音乐节拍太重
The rhythm is too heavy
那就举起双手
Raise your hands
你很想要放纵
You want to free yourself
他们很想要放纵
They want to free themselves
Woo…
现在我感觉到了心很自由
Now my heart is feeling free
Woo…
身体已经蠢蠢欲动
My body is ready
这个音乐叫做 社会摇
This song is called “social shake”
Friday Song is SupChina’s weekly sign-off. Let us know what you thought of the week that was in the comments below, or email editors@thechinaproject.com.
