DANCE

China’s provincial capital of Xian has reopened its ballrooms after a two-year suspension, the China Daily newspaper reported Tuesday. The city lifted its dancing ban after the mayor received many letters of complaint accusing city authorities of conservatism, the report said. The report did not say why the ballrooms were shut in June, 1985, although dance halls elsewhere in China have been occasionally shuttered on the grounds they attracted troublemakers and spread “bourgeois influences.” Ballrooms, dance halls and discos are now popular throughout the country, particularly in larger cities such as Shanghai and Canton. Xian, the ancient capital of China, is the capital of Shaanxi province.