How this Bboy Pioneer Built a Hip Hop Empire in China

In the early '90s, China's hip hop scene was just starting to take shape. People were pulling together disparate elements they could gather from overseas — bootleg beat-tapes from Hong Kong, imported Hollywood movies like Beat Street and Flashdance, and a host of other influences that would eventually yield the first true wave of Chinese hip hop.

It was in this era that Bboy Danny entered the picture — a figure that would effectively become the godfather of China's breaking scene.

The pioneering bboy (or "breakdancer" to the layman) and founder of Caster Studio first honed his athletic prowess as a member of the Shanghai city gymnastics team. He trained throughout his childhood, until a sudden wrist injury cut his career short. With an uncertain future ahead of him, Danny left his life as an athlete behind until he entered university, where an unexpected encounter with the Running Man changed him forever.

“The first time I saw hip hop dance was at a university students' club," he recalls. "There was a room full of people, everyone talking and drinking beer. I didn’t even drink back then. I asked, 'what are you doing?'"

"They said, ‘it’s called rap. Rap is a kind of dance.' They were all doing the same move, saying, 'this is from New Jack Swing, it’s called the Running Man.' We all did the same move together, for two or three hours… It was so much fun."

In China, where methodologies like tai chi and qigong have existed for millennia, there exists a foundational gap between the culture at large and something as American as breaking. An outward type of athleticism like breaking ­—  the yang of the traditional yin-yang equation — stands in stark contrast to the yin.

“Chinese people have our own styles of thinking, our own concepts of self-cultivation. When we dance breaking, we pay attention to that. Breaking is just a medium, but we have our own ways of practice and self-growth. That’s the real Chinese way of breaking.” 

“Breaking in the US is a way to express your emotions, your attitude and your way of life. In Europe, at the start, it was all about power moves and techniques. Now it’s more about expressing your individual flavor. In Korea and Japan, it’s all about high-level sets and routines. In China, most of the time, breaking is a form of self-cultivation, drawing on the strength of your spirit.”

With the Olympics poised to introduce breaking as an official event in Paris 2024, the sky’s the limit for the world’s bboys. Today is perhaps the most exciting time in the half-century-long history of the art form (and considering China’s propensity for Olympic glory, the country’s still-developing breaking scene could be in for some major changes).

It remains to be seen whether Chinese breaking will win gold on the world stage — but these athletes all owe a great deal to the man who helped pave the way for them.

To learn how Bboy Danny got to battling the world's biggest bboys, hit "Read More" at the bottom of this message.

More from RADII