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02/20/2006 Archived Entry: "Licensed to Dance in China"

Former East Side Weblog Meetup member John has been in China since last summer. While walking around the small village where he is living now, he and his wife noticed a group of folks dancing in the street, doing social dances and circle dances, an unusual sight in that village. They joined in a few times. Now they've been issued ID tags! "I have to admit, I have sort of coveted those I.D.'s. I don't know why, since the nametags in China have sort of creeped me out. It seems everybody who works behind a counter here has a tag and it seems that every tag is simply a number. (Of course, I do admit that if there's Chinese characters on a tag, I couldn't tell if it was someone's name or a biohazard warning.) The dancer I.D. is similar, with a number and the ever present red star stamp. There is a space for our name and a poor quality picture of some people dancing, though, so maybe that makes up for it. Or maybe it's just the thought as being accepted. Or maybe it's just scoring a unique souvenir. Whatever the reason, we were quite pleased to be tagged. I just hope that this doesn't mean that we have to attend club business meetings...."