“Synchronized dancing in the town square” is not the same as square dancing. Apparently China is clamping down on noisy “square dancers” and this has been in the news lately, but many people, including the author of this article are confusing “dancing in the town square” with what has historically been known as “square dancing” in the West. They are quite different, and the only reason they are being confused is because of lazy translating.

The following article equates what the ladies in China are doing with square dancing that the royal family of Great Britain have done on visits to the US and Canada in the past. While I would LOVE to see the Queen and Prince Charles doing synchronized dancing in the town square, this is not what they were doing.

Sloppy reporting based on sloppy translating:

Square dancing unruly? Don’t tell the Queen
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/11491388/Square-dancing-unruly-Dont-tell-the-Queen.html