Feature: Dancer bids to set British record with Chinese Gangnam-style dance

After taking China by storm, dancer Fenfen Huang is to bring a Chinese Gangnam-style dance to the streets of Britain.

Huang, the artistic director of the award-winning cultural charity organization China Pearl, has recruited internet sensation Shaun Gibson to help her bid to set a record for the highest number of flash-mob dancers to perform outside of China.

Shaun is typically English, from a small northern salt-mine town and a graduate from the University of Liverpool.

But when his own version of Xiao Ping Guo (Little Apple) was posted on internet sites in China, it attracted more than 20 million views.

It has made him more recognizable to Chinese people in Britain than to his own country folk.

Huang's bid will take place in one of the main public squares in Liverpool city center on Saturday.

The flash mob dance event, in the busy Williamson Square, forms part of a day-long Chinese Lantern Festival to mark the end of Chinese New Year celebrations.

The celebrations will include a lion dance, singing and dancing, a demonstration of martial arts and a traditional Chinese costumes catwalk.

Huang, who is from Linhai in Zhejiang province, said: "Following the Korean Gangnam-style dance, a Chinese version followed and it has swept across China."

"I thought it would be good to introduce it to the general public in Britain and give British people a chance to have a go at this happy, fun dance routine," she added.

"My aim is to create a new British record, perhaps even a world record, for the largest number of dancers to perform outside of China. The dance has been performed by small groups, mainly Chinese students, but there has never been a major public street event in Britain," she said.

Chinese students and local groups based in the city's Chinatown have agreed to join Saturday's showpiece event.

Gibson, who is 24, graduated in music from the University of Liverpool. "I am from a small town in Cheshire and when I arrived in Liverpool, I became interested in the high number of Chinese students and their culture," he said. "I translated Xiao Ping Guo into English and it led to me making a short video, singing the song in both English and Mandarin. I have been amazed at its success in China when it went viral on various platforms."

"When I went to China for a holiday I was almost mobbed by people who recognized me. It shows the power of dance music," he added.

The event has won backing from a number of official organizations, including Arts Council England. Endit