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Chinese
acrobatics is a favourite form of art among the people. It has a long
history with a distinct national style, evolving from the Chinese
people's everyday life and working experience.
Historical records and ancient relics, relief carvings on tombs, stone
carvings, brick carvings, murals in temples and grottoes, and
decorative patterns on utensils show the origin of Chinese acrobatics
more than two thousand years ago in the period of the Warring States.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.c.-220 A.D.), artists
developed a wide variety of repertoire and acrobatics was thus called
'the show of a high level as a performing art by the Western Han
Dynasty.
Zhang Heng, a great man of letters in the Eastern Han Dynasty,
recorded in ond of his writings 'The Western Capital Fu' many exciting
acrobatic acts and magic shows. They included 'Balancing on a high
pole', 'Jumping through hoops'. 'Hand feats', 'Rope walking', 'Turning
of a fish into a dragon', 'Swallowing knives and spitting fire' and
'Drawing a line on the ground and it becomes a river'. He recorded the
shows accompanied by a small orchestra. All these illustrate the
triumph of ancient Chinese acrobatics. From then on, a variety of
acrobatic performances such as traditional conjuring, vocal imitation,
taming animals, horsemanships have been recorded and described in
books and historical relics. Acrobatic items have been accumulated to
several hundred.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 , being
guided by the principle of 'Letting a hundred flowers blossom and
weeding through the old to bring forth the new', Chinese acrobatics
has developed rapidly. A large number of new programmes have been
created, collected, and transplanted. As music accompaniment,
costumes, props and lighting have been improved,Chinese acrobatics has
developed into a comprehensive form of stage art. Statistics show that
there are more than one hundred acrobatic troupes throughout China. A
large number of young performers have been trained. The repertoire
numbers over two hundred items. In October 1981, China Acrobatic Arts
Association was established, and launched its first issue of
'Acrobatics and Magics' as the first magazine on acrobatics in China.
Acrobatics has played an important role in cultural exchanges between
China and other nations. In the past 35 years, Chinese acrobatic
troupes have toured more than 100 countries and regions throughout the
world. Their excellent performances were warmly welcomed and highly
appreciated by the people of various countries. |
Information
provided by
China National
Tourism Administration.
