科目三

What does 科目三 mean?

科目三 is the dance everyone was doing at the end of 2023: loose wrists that look like turning a steering wheel, a swaying waist, a leg shuffle, an unbothered grin. The name is a joke about driving tests: in Guangxi, so the story goes, locals say that on top of the official exam subjects everyone has to pass one more, dancing at a wedding, and the nickname stuck to this particular routine. It is not a polished performance; it is meant to be rough, contagious, and slightly embarrassing. That is why it shows up at dinners, school sports meets, and family parties, where someone always gets pulled up to give it a try.

Where does 科目三 come from?

The routine circulated first on short-video apps as footage from wedding celebrations in Guangxi, with the earliest clips dated to around 2022. It crossed over in November 2023, when videos of Haidilao hotpot staff performing it between serving tables went viral, and branches of the chain, at home and abroad, turned the dance into a nightly event. Media coverage followed within days: ebrun on November 28, 2023, and China Economic Net (中国经济网) on November 30. By mid-December People's Daily was writing about the dance traveling overseas, and in early 2024 outlets were tracing its route out of Guangxi to stages in other countries.

How to use 科目三

• 聚餐到一半，服务员被拉去跳科目三，整个包间掏出手机录像。
  Jùcān dào yībàn, fúwùyuán bèi lā qù tiào kēmù sān, zhěnggè bāojiān tāochū shǒujī lùxiàng.
  Halfway through the dinner, a waiter was pulled in to dance subject three, and the whole private room took out phones to film.
• 朋友婚礼上伴郎自告奋勇跳了一段，宾客们一边笑一边录。
  Péngyou hūnlǐ shàng bànláng zìgàofènyǒng tiào le yī duàn, bīnkè men yībiān xiào yībiān lù.
  At a friend's wedding the best man volunteered to dance it, while the guests laughed and recorded.