China is cracking down on noise pollution, an effort that will reportedly affect public groups of “dancing grannies,” even as the Communist nation continues to struggle against large amounts of smog contaminating the air.
Under pending legislation, fines, between $30 to $150 for individuals and about $3,000 for groups, can be levied for violating new noise restrictions on how loud and when they can play music in public, according to the Washington Post.
“Those who violate the regulations shall be persuaded and educated” by local government “to correct themselves,” the law says, according to Chinese state media.
The Washington Post described China’s dancing grannies as “middle-aged and retired Chinese women” who “take over public parks and plazas around the country to engage in synchronized shimmying.” According to the outlet, these dancers “will soon face new restrictions on their right to boogie.”
Public dancing apparently became a large part of Chinese culture during the Cultural Revolution.
“The practice had its origins in collective public dances during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, and later in the economic overhauls of the 1990s that left many city dwellers jobless and in need of low-cost entertainment,” the Post noted.
The new noise laws are seen by some as a move to crack down on the practice. The dances have become somewhat of an international phenomenon with them cropping up in places like outside the Louvre in France or the Red Square in Russia.
As the country purportedly attempts to regulate noise, it continues to struggle against air pollution as dense smog continues to plague the country. Smog has become a factor in its preparations to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and relations with Taiwan.
“The first wave of smog from China since Autumn is forecast to hit Taiwan Sunday with the air quality level expected to trigger orange and red alerts, according to the Environmental Protection Administration,” reported Focus Taiwan.
In the lead-up to the Beijing Games, China has reportedly stepped up efforts to cut down smog in at least 64 cities. This involves decreasing industrial production, including at some steel factories, as China will reportedly produce 13 percent less steel in the latter half of the year.
One economist who spoke with the outlet predicted the move would cause a “supply-side shock.”
“Although the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta are not involved, the area that is affected is also a relatively important part of China’s economy, especially in terms of raw material productions,” said economist Lu Ting.
Last year, the United States accused China of being “the world’s leading annual emitter of greenhouse gases and mercury.”
“Too much of the Chinese Communist Party’s economy is built on willful disregard for air, land, and water quality,” then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in August of 2020. “The Chinese people — and the world — deserve better.”
The U.S. also took China to task for increasing its carbon emissions.
“Energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide in the PRC have increased more than 80 percent between 2005 and 2019, while U.S. energy-related emissions dropped by more than 15 percent during the same period,” a report from the Georgia Embassy noted.
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Source: Dailywire
