Chinese governments have been notorious, at least in the eyes of western media, for curbing various public freedoms over many years. Its latest target might surprise you.

China's estimated 100 million "dancing grannies" – usually groups of casually-dressed elderly women and men performing loosely synchronised dance moves to traditional and pop songs in public squares at night – have been ordered to conform to new regulations. Their nocturnal antics, although done in the name of fitness and socialising, have resulted in a backlash from residents sick of their G-rated disturbances.

Men and women participate in a mass dance, a nightly activity in Tianjin, China. By developing 12 model routines to be taught nationwide, Chinese officials are attempting to regulate the ad hoc public dances that have become hugely popular in recent years. Credit:New York Times

In 2013 a Beijing man lost the plot when he fired a gun in the air and set three dogs on to a group of 'square-dancers', scattering them. In Wuhan, residents in an apartment building dumped the contents of toilets onto a group of dancing grannies below. But the craze – known as Guangchangwu – is so big it's already gone global, after groups of Chinese women have been snapped performing synchronised dance moves in New York's Sunset Park, Moscow's Red Square and outside the Louvre in Paris.

"Square-dancing represents the collective aspect of Chinese culture, but now it seems that the over-enthusiasm of participants has dealt it a harmful blow with disputes over noise and venues. So we have to guide it with national standards and regulations," said Liu Guoyong, chief of the General Administration of Sport of China's mass fitness department.