<p>What's the Chinese for the dance or acrobatics described in the English edition Wikipedia article "Chinese pole"?</p>

<p>杂技马戏。Circus &amp; Juggling </p>

<p>According to pics from Wikiwand page for "Chinese pole", the person who performs the act is clearly not dancing but performing climb, slide down. </p>

<p>Check <a href="https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Chinese_pole" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikiwand page</a> if you wonder. You can tell them from the pics.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-15T17:51:36.077Z
2017-04-15T18:18:50.817Z
2017-04-15T18:18:50.817Z
Kevman
<p>钢管舞 is just the name Chinese picked for 'pole dance'. The pole looks like a 'steel pipe'(钢管)</p>

<p>Pole dance originated as an erotic performance. People realized the acrobatic nature of the pole dance art, and adopted it as a fitness training method. </p>

<p>Many women started to do it for a hobby. There's no unique dance style in pole dance in regard to nationality. </p>

<p>For fitness or hobby, as long as it looks artistic, people may incorporate any dance style in pole dance, but in its core, if we ignore its erotic performance origin, pole dance is more an acrobatic art than dance. </p>

<p>We should call this hobby <a href="http://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E9%92%A2%E7%AE%A1%E8%88%9E%E8%BF%90%E5%8A%A8%E8%AE%AD%E7%BB%83%E4%B8%AD%E5%BF%83" rel="nofollow noreferrer">钢管舞运动</a> (pole dance exercise)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-05T11:24:28.357Z
What's the Chinese for the dance or acrobatics described in the English edition Wikipedia article "Chinese pole"?
Golden Cuy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-05T11:11:03.307Z
2017-03-05T12:08:53.063Z
2017-03-05T12:08:53.063Z
Tang Ho
<p>How does Chinese distinguish between western <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_dance" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pole dancing</a> and what English calls <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_pole" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chinese pole</a> dancing, if at all?</p>

<p>The Chinese edition of Wikipedia has an article on <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%92%A2%E7%AE%A1%E8%88%9E" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pole dancing</a>, using the word 钢管舞. However, it doesn't seem to have an article on Chinese pole dancing - only English, Arabic and French editions of Wikipedia have articles on it. (By the way, is Chinese pole dancing really of Chinese origin, or is it made up by non-Chinese?)</p>

<p>The Wiktionary entry on <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%8B%BC%E7%AE%A1%E8%88%9E#Chinese" rel="nofollow noreferrer">鋼管舞</a> translates it as only (western) pole dancing, though the etymology could apply to either type, with 鋼管 meaning pole and 舞 meaning dancing. I couldn't find "Chinese pole" in Wiktionary.</p>

<p>Background: I came across a native speaker of Chinese saying that their hobbies include pole dancing, and their native language version included the simplified Chinese "钢管舞", and I wanted to know whether they had made a mistake in their English.</p>

<translation><word-choice>
Does Chinese distinguish between (western) pole dancing and Chinese pole dancing? If so, how?
# Does Chinese distinguish between (western) pole dancing and Chinese pole dancing? If so, how?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-03-05)

How does Chinese distinguish between western [pole dancing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_dance) and what English calls [Chinese pole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_pole) dancing, if at all?

The Chinese edition of Wikipedia has an article on [pole dancing](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%92%A2%E7%AE%A1%E8%88%9E), using the word 钢管舞. However, it doesn't seem to have an article on Chinese pole dancing - only English, Arabic and French editions of Wikipedia have articles on it. (By the way, is Chinese pole dancing really of Chinese origin, or is it made up by non-Chinese?)

The Wiktionary entry on [鋼管舞](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%8B%BC%E7%AE%A1%E8%88%9E#Chinese) translates it as only (western) pole dancing, though the etymology could apply to either type, with 鋼管 meaning pole and 舞 meaning dancing. I couldn't find "Chinese pole" in Wiktionary.

Background: I came across a native speaker of Chinese saying that their hobbies include pole dancing, and their native language version included the simplified Chinese "钢管舞", and I wanted to know whether they had made a mistake in their English.

**Tags:** translation, word-choice

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-04-15. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

What's the Chinese for the dance or acrobatics described in the English edition Wikipedia article "Chinese pole"?

杂技马戏。Circus & Juggling

According to pics from Wikiwand page for "Chinese pole", the person who performs the act is clearly not dancing but performing climb, slide down.

Check [Wikiwand page](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Chinese_pole) if you wonder. You can tell them from the pics.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2017-03-05. Score: 0

钢管舞 is just the name Chinese picked for 'pole dance'. The pole looks like a 'steel pipe'(钢管)

Pole dance originated as an erotic performance. People realized the acrobatic nature of the pole dance art, and adopted it as a fitness training method.

Many women started to do it for a hobby. There's no unique dance style in pole dance in regard to nationality.

For fitness or hobby, as long as it looks artistic, people may incorporate any dance style in pole dance, but in its core, if we ignore its erotic performance origin, pole dance is more an acrobatic art than dance.

We should call this hobby [钢管舞运动](http://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E9%92%A2%E7%AE%A1%E8%88%9E%E8%BF%90%E5%8A%A8%E8%AE%AD%E7%BB%83%E4%B8%AD%E5%BF%83) (pole dance exercise)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: What's the Chinese for the dance or acrobatics described in the English edition Wikipedia article "Chinese pole"?  

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