Are Funeral Strippers Real? Taiwan Pole Dancers Create Traffic Jam At Politician's Final Goodbye

While funerals are generally a time for mourning, a memorial parade in Taiwan took a different route for lamentation. Fifty pole dancers caused a traffic jam during local politician Tung Hsiang’s funeral in Chiayi Tuesday as they danced in black bikinis on top of cars, catching the eyes of crowds of bystanders for the duration of the procession.

The women danced and sang atop 50 multicolored jeeps for the 76-year old man’s memorial parade, which included imported luxury cars, traditional bands and drummer troops. Performers who dressed as gods were also part of the performance.

Many spectators took photos and videos as the 200 vehicles proceeded throughout Chiayi. Tung was an active and respected politician who took on numerous jobs in the city for decades.

The pole dancer spectacle was not an accident — Tung’s family arranged it as part of the funeral parade because of his sociable nature, wishing to celebrate his life in a light-hearted manner.

"He told us he wanted this through a dream two days before the funeral," his brother Tung Mao-hsiung told the local CTS news channel.

Stripteases are not an uncommon practice in Taiwan during religious festivals, with entertainers performing the acts to “appease the wandering spirits.”

Anthropologist and University of South Carolina Professor Marc L. Moskowitz produced a documentary, “Dancing for the Dead: Funeral Strippers in Taiwan” regarding the custom.

“Funeral strippers work on Electric Flower Cars, which are trucks that have been converted to moving stages so that women can perform as the vehicles follow along with funerals or religious processions,” the film’s synopsis reads.

Debates circulate around the morality of this practice. Some middle- and upper-class men say the practice has harmful effects on public morality while fans say the performances make events “more exciting,” the synopsis said.