NANCHANG, July 17 (Xinhua) -- She is a dancing queen in her neighborhood and frequently organizes her "old pals" to bust a move in the village square, but Zou Qiaoyu recently asked her dancing friends to join in something different: fighting floods.
Zou, 52, is a resident of Guanchang village, Jiangxinzhou town in Jiujiang City, east China's Jiangxi Province. The town on a large sandbank in the Yangtze River is the registered home of about 42,000 people, but many have left for jobs in big cities.
Since July 6, the northern part of Jiangxi Province has experienced torrential rains, with water rising significantly in local rivers and lakes. Around the 127-sq-km Jiangxinzhou, the water rose to 22.81 meters on July 12, posing grave danger to the settlement.
Facing a lack of manpower and devastating summer floods, Zou decided to organize her dancing friends to make a move against the floods. They have joined the soldiers on the embankment to protect their home.
Zou and other dancing friends, known as square-dancing "dama" -- as the older women are called in China, have become a hit on the internet, for their bravery in the fight against the floods.
On microblog Sina Weibo, a post about the flood-fighting dama had drawn more than 3,000 comments and had been forwarded close to 9,000 times as of 11 a.m. Friday.
"They can dance and they fight floods! How cool is that!" read a typical comment on Weibo.
"They did a brave thing. Please take care!" read another comment.
"The floods have inundated Jiangxinzhou, and we don't have time to think about square dancing anymore," said Zou. "We need to protect our home."
SQUARE DANCING QUEEN
In her village, Zou Qiaoyu is known as a square dancing queen. She knows a variety of dance numbers and can play the traditional Chinese Weifeng drum well.
"My favorite square dancing music is a revolution-themed medley," she said.
Zou said she started learning square dancing in 2008 when she escaped from the grips of stomach cancer.
"I learned the importance of exercising, so I started to dance," she said. "I am a shy person, so I barely danced with men. I did solo dancing with my pals in the village and enjoyed it."
"She has very strong abilities in organizing activities," said Zou's friend Yang Chunyan. "Whenever we feel like dancing, we call her, and she just asks everyone out to the square!"
With her "strong abilities," Zou managed to organize other dancing dama to fight the floods.
"Because many people have left Jiangxinzhou for big cities, and it takes time for them to return," she said. "So I thought we should do something."
PROTECTING HOME SWEET HOME
As the floods came, Zou and other dama went to the frontline.
Of Zou's team, the oldest is 53 and the youngest 42.
"We fill the bags with sand and we carry the sandbags to the embankment," Zou said.
Wearing a bamboo hat, a raincoat and a pair of water-proof boots, Zou also checks the embankment to see if there are any leaks there. If any leaks are found, she reports it to the village officials.
"It is an important job because it ensures the safety of the embankment," she said.
Recently, more people have come back from big cities to help fight the floods. Zou's husband is also fighting the floods at the frontline. Besides patrolling the embankment, Zou and other dama also cook for them.
On July 12, big waves of water on the Yangtze lashed the embankment, leaving some holes.
"It was very, very scary," she said. "But there were dozens of us girls there, so I felt not so scared."
Zou said she cannot carry a sandbag alone, because it is too heavy.
"We work together in a group of two or three to carry the bags," she said.
On Thursday, Zou worked along the embankment for a whole morning, and she was exhausted.
"I carried 14 or 15 bags this morning," she said. "I am tired, but I'm OK."
"It is our sweet home, and protecting it is our responsibility," she said. "I believe we will win the battle against the floods." Enditem
