Editor's Note:

Are you up on what the hundreds of millions of Chinese netizens are talking about? Take a moment and get the rundown of what's hot, what's trending, and what's drawing the most buzz on the Chinese blogosphere.

Chinese dancing ladies get no 'Louvre' online

A photo of middle-aged Chinese women dancing outside the Louvre in Paris that kicked up criticism online recently was not photoshopped, according to the Sina Weibo user who posted the image on April 24.

Netizens suspected the photo, which shows an ensemble of costumed ladies dancing to music from a portable stereo, to be a fake created to intentionally "tarnish the image of Chinese people."

Weibo user Garfield in Hong Kong maintains that the photo, taken outside the famous French art museum, was not touched up with software.

According to a graphic designer surnamed Fu, the photo does not seem to be altered. 

Similar group dance activities, often involving loud music in public squares, are a common form of exercise among middle-aged or elderly women.

A number of cases involving dance groups disturbing the peace have made recent news, such as in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province where residents spent 260,000 yuan ($41,578) on a PA system to drive away noisy dance groups this March.

The photo of the Chinese dancers has drawn both criticism and support.

"As if they aren't resented enough in China, now they're going abroad for more," Gongfanzisha wrote on Weibo.

Others felt this had nothing to do with face. "It only shows the happy life that elderly Chinese women lead. It's fine as long as they keep the volume down and do not disturb other people," said Net user Laobin.


Newspaper headline: Moment of Neti-zen: Chinese dancing ladies get no 'Louvre' online