Twenty-four overseas students have enrolled in China's leading
circus skills school this year as part of a cultural exchange
program funded by the government.
Students from Kenya, Ethiopia, Comoros and Venezuela have just
started their 12-month training program at the Wuqiao Acrobatic
Arts School, in Wuqiao County, inside north China's Hebei Province, a place considered to be the
cradle of Chinese circus.
The history of the Wuqiao circus dates back more than 2,000
years when people in the region were very poor due to the arid land
and had to rely on performing special skills to make a living. They
became some of the earliest circus performers. This tradition has
been passed on from generation to generation.
Most of the overseas students were fine art students or circus
performers in their own countries before coming to Wuqiao. The
governments of their own countries selected them for the free
training program.
"The school provides us with free food, training clothes and
accommodation, along with 100 yuan in pocket money," said
14-year-old Kenyan juggler Ronald.
Each day, they get up at six o'clock and have a one-hour run
before breakfast. Their morning training lasts three hours and the
afternoon session two hours. They also have Chinese and music
classes.
"In the beginning, it was really hard because we were not used
to the training routine," said Daniel Sierralta, 20, from
Venezuela. "But after some time passed, we started to feel
comfortable with it."
Sierralta was involved in the circus back home, as well as being
a student of modern dance, but this is the first time he has
received formal training. He plans to learn how to walk the tight
wire and do vertical rope skills.
"I love the circus very much but also I love traveling. With
this career, I can work and learn about the whole world," said
Sierralta.
Established in 1985, the China Wuqiao Acrobatic Art School
started training programs for foreign students in 2002.
So far, 110 students, including 98 young people from Africa and
others from the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea,
have graduated from the school, according to Qi Zhiyi, the school's
vice president.
Most of the graduates are now working in circus troupes in their
own countries and some have come back to improve their skills
further, according to Qi.
Hiberteseb Alemu, from Ethiopia, has to pay 40,000 yuan
(US$5,333 ) for the training because he is not a member of the free
program.
"Eleven of my friends and my younger sister have studied here
and they support me coming here," said the 23-year-old, who was a
full-time driver and mechanic, as well as a part-time circus
performer, in Ethiopia.
His younger sister Sewasew received one year of free training in
this school last year under the China-Africa cooperation and aid
program. She now works with Mama Africa, an African circus
troupe.
(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2007)
