The New York Times
Date: Aug. 5, 2018
By: Steven Lee Myers

Cheerleaders dancing during a baseball game between the Lamigo Monkeys and Fubon Guardians at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium in Taiwan, in May.  CreditIsaac Lawrence for The New York Times

TAOYUAN, Taiwan — As the batter steps to the plate, the clamor crescendoes, a rhyming, thumping chant, often tailored to his name.

Cheerleaders prance atop the dugout, accompanied by blaring recorded music or even live drums and brass instruments. Fans wield all manner of noise makers — clappers, pairs of plastic bats, small vuvuzelas — pretty much nonstop for nine innings.

They are not trying to distract from the opposing team’s batter, but to cheer on their own. How any batter manages to concentrate enough in the din to get a hit is anyone’s guess.

“Yi qi an da! Yi qi an da!” (pronounced ee-chi-ahn-dah) goes one of the more general chants, which is, roughly, the way to say, “Let’s get a hit together.”
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