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Journalism of Courage
In the rural villages and smaller cities of Taiwan, an unusual tradition continues to spark intrigue and controversy: the presence of exotic pole dancers, known as ‘funeral strippers,’ at memorial services for the deceased. Many videos of such funerals have been widely shared on social media platforms recently.
This practice, which “is apparently a decades-old and well-established,” according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, represents a unique fusion of ancient mourning customs, modern entertainment, and complex cultural beliefs about death and celebration.
A 2017 report by the BBC mentioned how a Taiwanese funeral featuring 50 pole dancers went viral after the death of a local politician named Tung Hsiang. Another report by VICE noted, “Considering strippers are a time-tested, scientifically-proven way of drawing a crowd, the trend of hiring some to dance at your funeral is getting increasingly popular in Taiwan.”
The practice of funeral strippers in Taiwan was first documented around 1980, but the roots of performance at funerals run much deeper in Taiwanese culture. Reports of Taiwanese women performing at religious ceremonies date back more than a century.
According to a 2012 report by VICE, “The tradition started 20 years ago, when the Taiwanese mafia took hold of a huge chunk of the island’s mortuary game. Combining business interests, they offered strippers from some of the clubs they owned for a cut rate to anyone who booked a funeral through one of their companies.” This commercialisation transformed what had been traditional religious and cultural performances into something more provocative and controversial.
The tradition became institutionalised through ‘electric flower cars’ (dianzi hua che), mobile stages that became common features of Taiwanese funeral processions, weddings, and temple festivals in the 1980s. These brightly decorated vehicles serve as mobile stages where performers entertain crowds during religious and ceremonial events.
The practice serves several cultural functions that extend beyond being a spectacle. Historically, professional mourners filled a vital social role when women often couldn’t return home for funerals due to marriage obligations and transportation limitations. While modern funeral strippers serve a different function, they continue the tradition of hired performers at memorial services.
Proponents argue that these performers help bereaved families cope with grief and are part of a broader cultural emphasis on happiness and celebration, even in the face of death. The performances are viewed as entertainment for both the living mourners and, according to traditional beliefs, the deceased themselves.
Despite periodic government crackdowns and social criticism, the tradition persists in certain regions of Taiwan.
“The girls mostly come from a long line of graveside strippers and see their performances as nothing more than a means to a decent lifestyle, but are, to a degree, also flaunting their tradition to the Chinese government. China’s traditionalists are concerned that the practice will dent the country’s public morality, hence the crackdown at more and more funerals and the ‘funeral misdeeds’ hotline recently set up by the authorities,” mentioned VICE. But, supporters maintain that it serves legitimate cultural and emotional functions within their communities.
As the BBC mentioned, “Hiring dancers and even strippers for funerals is not that unusual in parts of Taiwanese society, in which some practise a folk religion that believes in ‘entertaining’ spirits.”
