Still steppin' lively

Square dancing is hugely popular among China's elderly citizens, who say it not only keeps them active, but is a great way of having fun in their twilight years. Chen Nan looks at the phenomenon.

Wang Baorong, 71, is wearing a military-style shirt, shorts and fishnet stockings. Two months ago, the septuagenarian joined a dance team and she's never been happier. Together with 200 people, aged between 45 and 75, Wang dances every morning from 8 until noon, mostly to Mandarin pop songs, played by a brick-sized portable music player. "I forget all my troubles when I am dancing. I feel young again and happy," says the Beijing native, who rises at 5 am to spend more than three hours traveling from her home in Fangshan district, in the northern outskirts of Beijing, to Taoranting Park in the southern part of the capital.

Like taichi and singing patriotic songs, square dance or guangchang wu in Chinese, has become a trendy way of exercising and socializing among retired city dwellers.