Wuqiao, Home of Acrobatics
2 min readWuqiao County in Hebei Province is known as the native place of acrobats. It has a history of 2,000 years, and its circus has traveled around the world. Do not be surprised if you see someone somersault on the streets of Wuqiao, for they say proudly, “Grey beard and toddler as well, everyone is some kind of acrobat in Wuqiao.”
The Chinese have always loved acrobatics. They are indispensable to various occasions of entertainment, from the annual Spring Festival Evening Party broadcast by the CCTV to temple fairs where all kinds of folk arts are presented. Acrobatic troupes, sometimes comprising dozens of people and sometimes just one man, perform everywhere-at theaters, on squares, in restaurants, and on streets, bringing amazement and laughter wherever they go.
Just like the Chinese character, Chinese acrobatics are featured by flexibility and steadiness, rather than novelty and dangerousness. For example, acrobats introduced the human pyramid,a traditional folk game and various stunts such as handstands, putting chair on top of chair, holding a candlestick in the mouth and juggling diabolo (kongzhu), which requires years of practice and the subtle use of body strength. Ropewalking is the ultimateskill. It represents the perfect unity of opposites such as movement and stability, and danger and safety. The spectators hold their breath watching the acrobat, who is immune to the excitement below, like a monk in a trance.
Dengji(juggling with the feet),a unique skill in Chinese acrobatics, is usually performed by female acrobats.
The things that can be juggled are varied-from a silkumbrella to a wooden table, from a round wine jar to a long ladder-even a humans can be juggled and spun so fast that the audience sees only a blur of figures. As an art rooted in daily life, acrobatics use domestic utensils such as bowls, plates, jars and ropes. For example, in zhuandie (spinning plates), the acrobat spins plates on poles up to one-meter long, like lotus leaves fluttering in the wind.
Acrobats are respected in China. Learning the skill at a very young age, they endure years of training to become professionals. As the old saying goes,”a minute of performance is worth ten years of practice.”Those whoare in this occupation think highly of the masters and cherish the skills so that the heritage can be handed down from generation to generation.
