Swinging side-to-side to a Chinese ditty, Taiwanese teenagers and younger children on Thursday performed at a night market competition, showing off their loose-limbed moves while executing a viral “subject three” dance that has taken social media by storm.
The competitors included young men in leather jackets and high-tops, siblings in matching denim jackets and sunglasses and even dancers improvising with pop-and-lock hip-hop moves. Yet all of them stuck to the original spirit of the kemusan (科目三) dance — which translate to “subject three.”
The style calls for dancers to look as if they are almost twisting their ankles as they flick their wrists rapidly to traditional Chinese music mixed with disco beats.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
“My impression? Lots of slippery motions,” said Chang Feng, a bemused homemaker who went to Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市) in Taipei with her daughter to watch the aspiring trend-setters on a small stage.
Nearby, diners waited for oyster omelettes and stinky tofu at food stalls, with curious onlookers wandering over to check out the dancers.
“Seems like all the kids know how to dance kemusan — it’s a trendy thing I suppose,” Chang said.
The dance is believed to have originated from Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok, run by the same parent company, ByteDance — with avid users jumping on the trend by performing their own versions of it, drawing millions of views.
Even businesses have tried to capitalize on the fad — such as popular hotpot chain Haidilao, whose employees twist and jerk their limbs when people order kemusan, a dish on its menu, online anecdotes and videos posted on Douyin show.
Fifth-grader Nancy Wu said she learned the dance from the platform.
“We also dance it at school. It has a demonic attractiveness to it,” the 10-year-old told reporters with an impish grin.
Yet the infectious music and jaunty moves come with a dose of controversy — some people on Facebook have accused the night market organizers of using the dance as a Chinese propaganda tool to “brainwash” young Taiwanese.
Political chatter appears to have migrated into the territory of viral Internet dances as well.
“Looks like this is a Douyin night market in China,” one person wrote in a comment on a post advertising the competition, with the comment drawing more than 230 “thumbs up.”
Ningxia Night Market Association chairman Lin Ting-kuo (林定國) said that the dance competition was purely for commercial profit. “We are using music and dance to try to increase consumer spending and promote Ningxia Night Market to the younger generation,” Lin said.
“This event is very straightforward. Don’t associate too much with it,” he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS