Guo Shutong carefully lifts a white mouse out of an antique
wooden box. He places the tiny animal on a large platform, upon
which he has constructed a miniature Disney Land.
Guo Shutong with his five mice at Wuqiao
County's Acrobatic and Circus World.
A large spinning wheel rises from the solid wooden frame. On its
shelf rests a hollow plastic watermelon. Around the frame sits a
temple, a bridge and a pagoda. There is even a railway track
circumventing the platform.
"Li Sanniang, go draw water!" Guo commands in his thick Wuqiao
dialect, as he puts one hand beside his mouth and, like a wizard
conjuring a spell, points a wand at the mouse.
The drowsy creature instantly becomes animated upon hearing its
orders. Performing the role of folktale character "Li Sanniang", it
climbs up to a rope and staggers over a ladder and to finally reach
the well. It pokes its head in and is about to pull out the bucket,
when it loses its balance and tumbles down the rope.
"Well, well, the previous trek must have cost you too much
energy. You need more practice. But never mind, take a rest," Guo
says, as he puts the mouse back in the box.
The performance at Wuqiao's Grand Acrobatic World amuses juries
and acrobatic troupes from 15 countries attending the 11th Wuqiao
International Circus Festival, which just ended in Shijiazhuang,
capital of Hebei Province this week. Although many of them couldn't
understand Guo's clever quips, they were still thrilled by the
show.
It is said that the earliest record of acrobatics in today's
Wuqiao County, known as the "cradle of Chinese acrobatics", can be
traced back to the Southern and Northern Dynasties (AD
420-589).
"Local residents, having long suffered in destitution, started
to earn their livings through juggling and acrobatics. Because they
were located along an ancient canal, the practice thrived as people
perfected their techniques to better entertain merchants passing
by," says Bian Faji, vice-chairman of the China Acrobats
Association.
Wandering performers helped gradually spread the acrobatic
tradition of Wuqiao across the country and abroad. Today, Wuqiao
acrobatics still exert an indispensable influence on the acrobatics
circles of China and the world.
According to Yang Hongzhi, head of the Culture Bureau of Wuqiao
County, the area is the origin of more than 60 acrobatic troupes -
most of which are privately owned - that perform throughout China
and the world year-round.
For visitors to the hometown of acrobatics, the Grand Acrobatic
World is a must-see. Opened in 1993, the spot has been hailed as an
acrobatics circus in which the curtain never goes down. This
reputation stands not only because it presents a variety of shows,
but also because it has recruited a who's-who of veteran
performers.
Their stunts may not be as breathtaking as the spectacular
productions of bigger troupes that tour for big bucks. But they
deserve respect for their lifetime commitment to preserving the
best of Wuqiao's tradition.
Performer Guo Shutong, 34, worked as an electrician in his early
years at the Grand Acrobatic World. He was amazed by the
mice-training performance of Zhang Fenglou, who was then a famous
acrobat. So in 1993, he began studying under Zhang.
Today, he makes the training look easy, but he says the animals
are actually very difficult to tame.
"We start to train a mouse when it is just beyond one-month-old.
At first, they don't listen to my orders, and they bite, leaving
cuts and scars all over my hands," Guo says. "The job requires
great patience. Usually, it takes us several months to train for
one act. But once the mice know how to do it, they will quickly
memorize their roles."
Guo treats the mice as if they were his children. When he
performs in other places, he would call home every day to make sure
that the mice are fed on time and well cared for. "I've never
dumped the elderly mice once they're too old to perform. I will
keep them until they die and bury them," he says.
He adds that the most difficult part of honing his craft is
developing his monologue to go with his mice's performances. "A
good monologue first requires a rich base of tales and legends.
Then, you should complement the storytelling with your expressions
and guide the mice in a harmonious manner, which requires a lot of
offstage practice. It took me about a year to remember the lines
and overcome my shyness to speak in public," he says.
Wang Baohe shows off his incredible hand
tricks to foreign performers.
In the past, the performance of small, trained animals - a show
also called a "mini-circus" - was one of the eight grotesque stunts
of Beijing's Tianqiao Fair. But the tradition has become
overshadowed by other acrobatic forms and is fading away.
Guo has dedicated himself to renovating the show. He constantly
creates new sets, such as one featuring the Beijing Olympics
mascots, the fuwa, and incorporates new phrases and current affairs
into his monologue to enhance the connection with audiences.
But he hasn't been able to reinvent his thick Wuqiao accent,
which boosts the dramatic effect but sounds like a foreign language
to people from South China. "I can perform in Mandarin. But it
would be much less fun, and there are many phrases in the dialect
for which we can't find a Mandarin equivalent," he says.
But for Wang Baohe, the challenges extend beyond linguistics. In
a courtyard not far from Guo's stall, named Gui Shou Ju, or The
Residence of Tricky Hands, 63-year-old Wang demonstrates exactly
how quick his hands, and how untrustworthy viewers' eyes, can
be.
The trick appears to be simple. He places two balls under an
upside-down bowl on the desk. Then, he puts another ball under
another bowl and shuffles the bowls. Then, he asks the audience how
many balls are under each bowl. Without fail, the audience
consistently guesses incorrectly. They try again and again, but
every time, the magician lifts the bowls and prove them wrong.
Wang was born into an acrobatic family. At the age of 6, he
started to perform at the Tianqiao Fair with his father and
grandfather. He began with juggling and tightrope walking, and
didn't take up hand tricks as his career until his 30s.
Like many street performers from Wuqiao, Wang lived in
destitution and instability. For him, the turning point came in
1992, when his "hand trick" surprised a group of provincial
government officials who were the first visitors to the Grand
Acrobatic World when it was still under construction. Since then,
Wang has toured the country and performed abroad, garnishing a slew
of prizes along the way.
After seeing his performance in Hong Kong in 1999, former Hong
Kong SAR chief executive Tung Chee-hwa affectionately dubbed him
"Gui Shou", or "Tricky Hands". This year, Wang was designated as an
Intangible Cultural Heritage inheritor as the only representative
of Wuqiao's long-standing acrobatic legacy.
"Chinese acrobatic programs have now caught up with the world.
We have incorporated more cultural and artistic elements, such as
dance, music and costumes, into the show," he says. "It is a great
step forward. But, on the other hand, I realize that many young
acrobats do not pay as much attention to solidifying their basic
skills as we elder performers did. I don't think the adoption of
advanced multimedia can replace the spirit of pursuing artistic
perfection."
(China Daily November 9, 2007)
