Zhang Sheng, 38, a department chief of a local firm in Beijing, heads for his belly dancing class every weekend.

"Too many business banquets and not enough physical exercise left me with a beer belly. Then I was introduced to belly dancing. To my surprise, it helped me lose fat and reduce tension from work," Zhang said. He's been dancing for three months.

A growing number of young and middle-aged men, especially white-collar workers and students in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu are signing up for belly dancing classes.

Moving to Arab music and wearing navel-exposing shirts, the men are mastering the sinuous movements of the Middle East art form associated with seductive women, according to Zhong Hui, a teacher of belly dancing in Beijing.

"A man I trained lost 20 kilos in three months. White-collar men like the dance more than exercise with dumbbells and push-ups because the latter is dull and dry," Zhong said.

When belly dancing first appeared in Beijing fitness clubs a few years ago, most of the enrollees were women. But with the possibility of weight loss and release from work pressure, men are giving it a try.

According to Zhong, belly dancing clubs are offering special classes for men to help them lose their beer bellies.

In Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, more than 20 male sales managers, firm owners, software engineers and government officials celebrated a Night of Belly Dance at a club on Saturday

Belly dancing has only been accepted in China in recent years, according to Hu Qiqi, a belly dancing instructor in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province. For a long time, the public considered belly dancing too suggestive.

Many wonder why men would want to dance that way.

A software engineer surnamed Li in Guangzhou said that the movements of belly dancing are not masculine.

Although men in large cities around China are turning up at belly dancing classes, many hesitate to tell their friends what they're up to. Even so, Hu insisted, "If you practice belly dancing for a long time, you will become more self-confident and attractive."

Sun Yuxiao, with the Beijing Bo'ai Psychological Counseling Center, says that belly dancing is not a dance of seduction but an art in which the dancer can display the art's beauty with all his or her heart.

At the same time, "The dance's swinging movements are good for fitness and avoiding tension," Sun said.

(China Daily 08/09/2007 page4)