Wuqiao Acrobatics
01 · Historical Records
By the Song dynasty, acrobatics had spread among the people, and performance forms such as goulan (enclosed performance booths) and washe (entertainment quarters) appeared. During the Qing dynasty and the Republican period, Wuqiao acrobatics reached its peak. However, since the 1950s, with changes in social, political, and economic conditions and in the organizational and activity forms of performance, veteran artists, veteran coaches, and veteran craftsmen have become fewer and fewer, and the rules of the trade have faded; the culture of Wuqiao acrobatics is in danger of gradual extinction and urgently needs excavation and rescue protection.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Wuqiao County lies in the southeast of Hebei Province, under the jurisdiction of Cangzhou, and is a world-famous home of acrobatics. Hebei Province is one of the birthplaces of Chinese acrobatics: in the tomb of King Cheng of the Zhongshan state of the Warring States period there appeared a silver-headed human-figure bronze lamp depicting an acrobatic performance. Wuqiao was long ago a region where acrobatics thrived densely in the land of Jizhou; murals of banquet music and acrobatic performance already appear in Jin dynasty tomb chambers. Over the course of more than two thousand years of change, the culture of Wuqiao acrobatics has been continuously enriched and developed. It worships Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin) as the patron deity of its trade, created the trade's chundian (argot), gave rise to oral literary forms in performance such as shuokou (spoken patter) and luoge (gong songs), and formed distinctive rules governing performance, props, management, and transmission, together constituting a complete trade-culture system. It is held in high esteem by the acrobatics community nationwide, and its influence has spread across five continents; as the sayings go, "of acrobats from all lands, nine in ten hail from Wuqiao," and "without Wuqiao people, no acrobatic troupe can be formed." Wuqiao acrobatics employs many practitioners, has a rich variety of programs, and is spread over a wide area. According to statistics, the traditional programs fall mainly into seven categories — bodily skills, prop skills, disguise and mimicry, animal taming, horsemanship, traditional magic, and comedy — with 486 individual items, together embodying the martial, chivalrous, and indomitable spirit of Wuqiao acrobatics culture, which is widely celebrated.
Three immortals return to the cave
Wang Baohe's signature close-up trick, worked with three balls, two bowls and a stick at a speed that earned him the nickname “ghost hand”.
Patriarch Lü worship and the Chun Dian argot
Wuqiao acrobats honour Patriarch Lü as their guild deity and use the secret argot known as Chun Dian for contact, bargaining and taboo avoidance.
Shuokou patter and luoge songs
The improvised spoken patter and drum-accompanied songs inserted between feats, ranging from self-deprecation to sales talk, playing cool against the danger of the tricks.
Seven categories and 486 routines
The traditional repertoire is counted as seven categories — body skills, prop skills, imitation of animals, animal taming, horsemanship, traditional magic and comedy — comprising 486 individual routines.
Yu Jinsheng's elephant taming and horsemanship
The fifth-batch national inheritor, from an acrobatic family and trained from the age of four, moved tent and street acts onto the stage and pioneered elephant taming in Chinese acrobatics.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Wuqiao acrobatics is centered on Wuqiao County and extends to the neighboring counties of Dongguang, Nanpi, and Yanshan as well as the Ningjin and Lingxian areas of Shandong Province. In the late Qing and early Republican period, local performers mostly traveled in family troupes or in master-apprentice groups, moving between Beijing and Tianjin, the region beyond the Great Pass (the Northeast), and the Jiangnan area; hence the sayings "of acrobats from all lands, nine in ten hail from Wuqiao" and "without Wuqiao people, no acrobatic troupe can be formed."
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The culture of Wuqiao acrobatics took shape alongside the development of Chinese acrobatics, and it is now mainly distributed in Wuqiao County and parts of Ningjin County and Lingxian County in Shandong Province. Wang Baohe (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han, born in 1944; a native of Wuqiao, Hebei. His performance of the traditional magic trick "Three Immortals Returning to the Cave" reached a level of consummate skill, marked by great speed and a strong element of fun. He has been awarded the title of "Famous Performing Artist," is praised as the "Ghost Hand," and enjoys the special government allowance of the State Council. Representative inheritor of Wuqiao Acrobatics, an item in the first national-level batch of national intangible cultural heritage; a magician. Wang Baohe has performed in more than ten countries and regions and won the Silver Golden Chrysanthemum Award at the third National Magic Competition. Yu Jinsheng (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han, born in June 1953; a native of Wuqiao County, Hebei Province. An acrobat. Born into an acrobatic family, he began learning the art at the age of four, and by the age of six had mastered the family's consummate skills such as tumbling (gentou) and sword swallowing. He moved programs previously performed in tents and on squares onto the stage, taking the development of the fusion of circus animal taming and acrobatics as his outstanding feature, and pioneered the taming of elephants in China's acrobatics world. Representative inheritor of Wuqiao Acrobatics, an item in the fifth national-level batch of national intangible cultural heritage. He has repeatedly represented China in international acrobatics competitions. At the international acrobatics competition held on the centenary of the founding of the Russian International Circus, he received the Russian Royal Gold Medal. At the third and sixth China Wuqiao International Acrobatics Festivals, he won the festival's Most Innovative Award for his acts "Horsemanship" and "Fire-Spitting."
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Baohe 01-0033
- Yu Jinsheng 05-2532
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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