Home of Chinese Acrobatics - Wuqiao

On our way to visit several wood processing companies in Ningjin, our hosts had a special treat - a short visit to the home of Chinese acrobatics, Wuqiao. Acrobatics is a pearl in the treasure house of the traditional Chinese performing arts. The acrobatic art has been developing in China for more than two thousand years. We learned there are a lot of acrobatics villages in China, but in terms of the history, the influence among people, and the influence, both domestic and abroad, Wuqiao is the most famous one. The gate in the picture on the left is the entrance to the acrobatic school we visited in Wuqiao.

We were led on a tour of the school, from one courtyard to the next, and enjoyed several performances. We saw a series of traditional skills demonstrated - card tricks, sleight of hand, tumbling, magic, balancing, plate spinning, aerialists, and cycling in a round cage, to name a few. The performers were varied in age, some as young as 6 or 7, and the eldest appeared to be in their 40s or 50s. The picture on the right shows a young acrobat rolling a huge ceramic vase with her feet. It took the four men in the picture to lift it into position. Later, they would take it down, help a large man from the audience climb inside, and hoist it onto the acrobat's feet once again.


In one of the courtyards, John from our group was selected from the audience to participate in a sleight of hand trick by Mr. Ghost Hands. His name comes from the fact that his hands move so fast you're not sure that you see them move. In the picture on the left, John is looking at the performer in amazement after realizing that somehow Mr. Ghost Hands transferred the balls from his own hands into one of John's fists.

There were several different venues at the school, each designed to showcase the performers - courtyards, small rooms in buildings, a tent, and so on. The tumblers were in two places, in a big red tent, and in a building that had a mural depicting acrobats from earlier times. In some of the performances, we saw an experienced performer and a novice working together.

A simple lunch was served in a plain dining room on the grounds of the school. We were served a speciality of the area - donkey meat, along with fresh cucumbers and greens, and local fish. During lunch, a couple of performers displayed their sleight of hand skills. In the picture below, the woman in the white tunic is giving our group a close-up view of her trick with rubber bands. The visit to the school was another lesson in Chinese culture. We learned that ancient acrobatics was handed down from generation to generation. Today, acrobatics has developed into a kind of performance art. In the past forty years, many Chinese acrobatic troupes have toured more than 100 countries and regions of the world and promoted friendship and cultural exchanges. You may be able to see a performance in your area at a county or regional fair.