Abstract

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Title:: Building China into a Culturally Strong Nation and Open-air PublicDancing：A Review of Causes for Its Popularity and Its Social Effects

Keywords:: social transformation; open-air public dancing; cultural consciousness; culturally strong nation

Abstract:: As a unique cultural phenomenon occurring in the process of China’s social transformation，theopen-air public dancing has attracted wide attention. Both domestic and foreign scholars have given differentdefinitions to explain the reason why this type of group dancing is so popular in contemporary China. From theMarxist cultural perspective，its popularity is due to China’s dramatic social and economic development：itis the direct result of the changes in people’s life style and mode of social interaction，the unique embodimentof fine Chinese cultural tradition and the manifestation of Chinese people’s increasingly positive mentality.Controversies caused by the open-air public dancing over such issues as the citizen’s right，social ethics，andaesthetic taste of its choreography actually speak of the difficulties China is facing in cultural sectors duringthe period of its social transformation. In order to ensure a sound development of open-air public dancing andconsequently promote building China into a culturally strong nation，we have to strengthen our confidence inand awareness of our own culture and make enough efforts to among others enhance our cultural identity，forgeconsensus on values and improve the construction of public culture.