Pole star leads the way

He became the first professional Chinese pole athlete to participate in an international pole sports competition in 2016. Now an accomplished pole performer, he has since visited Japan, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom to attend competitions, which has far exceeded the young man's expectations when he took his first tentative spins around the pole all those years ago.

"I have become more willing to share this hobby with others and I would like to change people's negative perceptions of pole dancing," says Jiang who regularly posts videos on platforms such as Kuaishou.

He now runs a pole fitness center in Changsha, Hunan province, where nearly 20 students aged between 13 and 50 learn how to grip the vertical pole with their arms and legs and safely execute the moves.

"I hope I can break people's stereotype of the sport by getting them closer to it. To me, it's an expressive art that combines strength and beauty," he says.

Chen Yu, 24, also a contestant in the recent contest, was guided into the world of pole sports by Jiang.

Last summer, purely by chance, Chen discovered that a regional pole sports event was being held near her home in Chengdu.

Out of curiosity, she sneaked in and caught the sight of Jiang, who was in the middle of performing an intricate maneuver, hooking the pole with his legs and spinning elegantly.

"His firm and well-defined muscles were so impressive to me, a plump and unfit woman at that time," recollects Chen who was then a music performance major at the Sichuan University of Culture and Arts.