Acrobatic Games

2 min read

Playing Kongzhu

Kongzhu(meaning empty bamboo), known abroad as diabolo or Chinese yo-yo outside of China, is originally a Chinese folk toy in which a round wooden box, dotted with several holes, is set at one end of a bamboo cylinder(single-domed) or both ends of it(double-domed) and when played with using a string, the box revolves quickly and produces a buzzing sound through its holes. The oldest records of the kongzhu appear in ancient Chinese literature written 1,700years ago. It is considered to have been practiced for more than 2,000 years and to be one of the 3 major traditional folk games originated from China along with the shuttlecock and the kite.

The kongzhu is widely popularized among common people throughout China, hence the many and different names of it in dialects of regions such as kongzhu in north China; cheling or chetuoluo in the south of Yangtze River and in Taiwan; xianghuang in Sichuan Province, and so on. It is used for athletic pastime or for performance on festive occasions, and is later introduced into acrobatic show. It is possible to perform an enormous variety of tricks with the kongzhu.

Walking on Stilts

It is said that stilt walking is originated from the ancient times when the primitive people bound sticks onto their legs to make them taller so that they could reach the wild fruits on the trees.

Walking on stilts is called”zougaoqiao”as well as “tagaoqiao”. According to historicalrecords, it has been more than 2,500 years since walking on stilts showed up in China.

Walking on stilts has become a popular performance. In the northern part of China, stilt-walking performers usually play the roles of fisherman, matchmaker, foolish son of a high official, Taoist nun, monk, etc. in a very funny way. In the southern part of the country, the roles of Guan Gong(Lord Guan), Daoji(commonly known as Ji Gong), fairy He Xiangu, immortals and clowns are usually played. The performers sing and walk at the same time, acting vividly in an amusing way.