Party people rule when it comes to the festive season

There are many reasons to love festive seasons in China, but my favorite is the way people party. On the weekend before Christmas, I hosted an office party at my home, and it took two days' work - from planning to cleanup. Most of the jamborees I've attended here have been months in preparation, with full rehearsals. These events require grand plans and grand stands, because performance takes center stage at Beijing's bashes.

My first experience with this phenomena came when I accompanied a group of US high school students to a vocational school for migrant women in Hubei Province.

The meet-and-greet involved a series of song-and-dance routines punctuated by applause. We were told the lovely ladies at the Practical Skills Training Center for Rural Women spent months nailing down the choreographic prep-work, and it showed in the girls' elaborately synchronized whirls and twirls.

Nearly every sizeable Chinese party I've attended since has come complete with microphones and fancy footwork.

But the best in show was the shindig at China Agricultural University. The Christmas/New Year's mixer was vaudeville that proved how cutting loose can be serious business in China.

The curtain rose with a fantastic fashion show put on by students hoping to stroll into careers on catwalks upon graduation.

Poppin' G got things shaking with his signature "popping-style dance". I had remembered reading his hobby list when he was a language student of my girlfriend last year. We had a few good laughs looking over the forms she had asked her students to fill out about their favorite pastimes.

But we had dismissed his "popping-style dance" entry as a Chinglishy way of describing conventional break dancing, and instead gave more thought to figuring out why a half-dozen students had scribbled "bathing teacher" on the forms.

But no. Poppin' G really goes "pop", in the same way as kettle corn. I had never seen a human move like that before.

His gig was followed by the obligatory KTV-style vocalists, a live staging of an episode of Friends and a performance of Christmas carols by an ensemble including both Western and traditional Chinese instruments.

When the aptly-named Green Day Band took the stage, the crowd covered this cover band with cans worth of silly string.

Then came a student dance group calling themselves the Sexy Girls.

Some catcalls indicated that many of the men in the audience felt the group deserved their namesake, but everyone was impressed by the intricate choreography of their dance routines, which the teachers agreed matched anything seen on MTV.

The party ended when the curtains closed, just as it had begun when they opened.

As we left, I thought to myself that while I miss my family get-togethers, this time of year, I really enjoy whooping it up with the uniquely Chinese species of party animal.

(China Daily 01/02/2008 page20)