The Cangzhou Wuqiao Acrobatics World has turned the folk legend of "up to ninety-nine, down to just knowing how to walk, Wuqiao acrobatics, everyone has a hand" into a touchable and experiential world in the martial arts world. Pengpai News reporters Sun Jun and Chen Xinlu (03:43)
Up to ninety-nine, down to just knowing how to walk, Wu Qiao plays acrobatics, and everyone has a hand
This folk song depicts the profound foundation of acrobatics in Wuqiao County, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province. With a permanent population of only about 218000, Wuqiao is known as the "hometown of Chinese acrobatics". The "China Wuqiao International Acrobatics Festival" named after Wuqiao County is one of the three major acrobatic festivals in the world, along with the Monte Carlo International Circus Festival and the French Ming Ri World Acrobatics Festival.
On May 15th, The Paper (www.thepaper. cn) learned from the Wuqiao Acrobatics World that the 20th China Wuqiao International Acrobatics Festival will return to its hometown Wuqiao County from September 27th to October 7th this year, while previous editions were mainly held in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province. Compared with previous editions, the opening and closing ceremonies of this year's Acrobatic Art Festival will be held in Wuqiao, where acrobatic teams from all over the world will compete on the same stage.
Once upon a time, acrobats in Wuqiao had to walk along the Grand Canal, sing gongs and songs, wander the rivers and lakes, and make a living by performing arts. Nowadays, Wuqiao is becoming its own "rivers and lakes".
Wuqiao was built and opened up as a huge world of acrobatics as early as 1993. Visitors can enter through the gate and experience the ancient world of acrobatics by walking along the Grand Canal. They can watch various acrobatic performances one after another, including primitive folk performances and beautiful high-tech stages. The performances include acrobatic skills such as the "Eight Eccentrics" of Beijing Tianqiao, which can be described as step-by-step surprises. This place receives a maximum of about one million visitors per year, making it a unique tourist destination for Eastern acrobatics in the world. It is currently actively participating in the evaluation of a 5A level tourist attraction.
From relying solely on "going out" exhibitions at the beginning, to daily centralized performances, and then to top acrobatic teams from around the world actively participating in competitions, Wuqiao acrobatics has undergone a transformation from "output" to "attraction", and from a means of livelihood to a medium for cultural inheritance and external exchange.
The current acrobatics in Wuqiao has been continuously inherited, integrated with internationalization, technology, and networking, and has added content that attracts young people. It has moved from reality to online dissemination, and its "status in the world of acrobatics" is becoming increasingly prominent.
On May 15th, the "River Sea Lion City Cultural and Martial Cangzhou" National Key Network Media and Network Experts Cangzhou Tour, jointly organized by the Propaganda Department of Cangzhou Municipal Committee and Pengpai News, visited Wuqiao County to investigate the inheritance and development of acrobatics.
Immersive viewing of acrobatics in Wuqiao
Wuqiao acrobatics can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. After the completion of the Grand Canal, it led to the rise of docks and towns along the river basin. For thousands of years, acrobats from Wuqiao have been traveling north and south by boat along the Grand Canal, performing and selling their skills.
Entering the world of acrobatics in Wuqiao, one performer after another performs their unique skills on stage, ranging from a small wooden table for solo performances to a grand theater that can accommodate hundreds of people, as if venturing into the old "jianghu".
I am the one who plays, laughs, and curses, and it is the one who plays both male and female roles. One pole and one person can complete a play. In a three foot square cloth curtain in the "Jianghu Culture City", an artist talks, learns, teases, and sings. His hands are not idle, he beats gongs with his left hand, drums with his right hand, and even hooks his toes with strings to play puppetry. The puppeteer is seen playing the "top bowl" gesture on the scene, and the bowl drips around the puppet's head.
On the stage of the "Tianqiao style Square", veteran artist Li Yinhuai took out two 8-centimeter long bone needles from a box. Subsequently, he stuffed them into his nostrils and after rubbing them a few times with his hand, the bone needles unexpectedly "drilled" out of his eyes. This is one of the "Eight Monsters" of Beijing Tianqiao. He walked slowly around the stage, and the audience in the front row unconsciously leaned forward, wanting to see if this unconventional performance had any hidden secrets.
Subsequently, Li Liang, the qigong performer of "Shangdao Mountain", made an appearance, bowed deeply to the audience, walked straight towards two towering iron chains, and began to climb barefoot on the "knife ladder" composed of iron knives. I saw him grip the upper part of the blade with both hands, then step on the lower blade and climb up the steps like this. After climbing a few floors, he also completed extraordinary tasks such as reaching out to pick stars and watching the moon with monkeys. And as he reached the summit, a thrilling scene unfolded: Li Liang pressed his abdomen against the circular platform at the top of the pole, suddenly releasing his hands and feet, causing a commotion in the audience.
Li Liang, 41 years old this year, is the fifth generation inheritor of the "Shangdao Mountain" acrobatic performance. He has been practicing basic skills with his father since childhood. Practice one breath inside and exercise your muscles, bones, and skin outside, "Li Liang told Pengpai News about the secret behind this skill. When climbing a knife or ladder, you need luck to your feet to avoid being cut.
On the acrobatics field, there are both breathtaking martial arts and mysterious and magical cultural acrobatics.
One chopstick, two bowls, and five small fluffy balls are all the props needed for Liu Fuqiang, the provincial-level inheritor of street vendor magic, to perform "Immortal Picking Peach". He picked up two small balls, placed them at both ends of the table, and each bowl was held tightly. Then, he said "go" to one of the small bowls and made a stroke with his chopsticks. When the bowl was lifted, one bowl was empty, while two small balls miraculously appeared inside the other.
The two bowls and five balls were unpredictable, and he saw five small balls hovering between his hands, appearing and disappearing at the bottom of the bowl, dazzling and elusive. How many balls do you think are hidden in this bowl? "During the performance, he would sometimes pause his movements and invite the audience to guess the number of balls under the bowl. After the audience guessed, the number of balls revealed at the bottom of the bowl was always unexpected.
The emphasis is on the combination of oral and visual skills, which requires both the ability to perform magic tricks and the ability to perform cross-talk, "Liu Fuqiang told Pengpai News. The transformation of the ball relies on the skills of two fingers trained over decades, and" oral skills "can quickly immerse the audience in the performance context, which is the key to achieving immersive viewing of mixed skills.
In fact, generations of Wuqiao acrobats have always relied on "gongs and songs" to gather popularity and "mouths" to retain audiences when wandering the "rivers and lakes". On a vacant land, a few ordinary props - knives, balls, bowls, water tanks, etc. - are the world where they showcase their skills.
Once upon a time, acrobats needed to step out of Wuqiao and explore the rivers and lakes. Nowadays, street acrobatics has gradually faded out of the public eye, and in Wuqiao, the hometown of acrobatics, a world of acrobatics has gathered more than a thousand skills, creating a tangible world for people who aspire to the martial arts world.
Generations inherit intangible cultural heritage skills through relay
Behind the continuous development of acrobatics in Wuqiao, there is a relay of inheritance from generation to generation.
My father has always taught me since I was young that we are all intangible cultural heritage, things passed down from our ancestors, and must not be lost. "Li Liang told The Paper that in his childhood, he did not truly understand his father's emphasis. He admitted that at that time, he did not understand the weight behind the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, but only followed his father's requirements and maintained daily practice.
Since the age of six, Li Liang has been involved in acrobatics for over 30 years, and he has already reached the age of his father. Seeing many family skills gradually lost due to difficult practice and unsustainable practices, he finally understood his father's good intentions back then.
Li Liang said that now he is taking his child to start practicing basic skills, and the child has initially mastered several traditional tricks. Practice requires practice, "he said." Whenever you need it, you can always use it.
Such inheritance stories are everywhere in Wuqiao.
In the Wuqiao Acrobatics World, there is a "Acrobatics Academy" where several performers are inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and typical acrobatic families.
Peng Lixin, who is over forty years old, was wearing a training uniform. He picked up a steel fork and swung it, causing the fork to move flexibly around his neck, back, arms, and even ankles like a swimming dragon, but it never landed, as if he had come alive.
He comes from a family of acrobatics that has been passed down for four generations. He started learning acrobatics from his parents at the age of 8, with his father specializing in flying saucers and his mother performing traditional umbrella techniques. Peng Lixin told The Paper that currently, he has trained from one fork to three forks and is currently tackling the technical difficulty of five forks. He said that behind every breakthrough, there are tens of thousands of repeated practices, and often one day inspiration will arise, finding the way to break through.
Many inheritors often suffer from old injuries and add new ones, "he said. There are many types of acrobatics in Wuqiao, covering all aspects, each with its own unique connotation. However, behind the success of an acrobatics practice, it is all supported by the determination to inherit Wuqiao acrobatics.
In order to let more people know about hand and fork acrobatics, Peng Lixin decided to use online platforms to record teaching videos and publicly release them. What moved him was that someone came from out of town to learn from him after watching the video.
Wang Ligang's approach coincides with Peng Lixin's, as he has also started video science popularization in an attempt to break through regional limitations and reach a wider audience for traditional skills.
Wang Baohe, also known as the "Ghost Hand", was one of the first national level inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and the golden signboard of the Wuqiao Acrobatics World. Wang Ligang is the son of Wang Baohe. Originally, in the "Ghost Hand Residence" theater, the performance of "Three Immortals Returning to the Cave" was completed by Wang Baohe. Since 2023, due to his advanced age, Wang Baohe has given up the performance stage to younger generations such as his son and disciples.
In fact, "Three Immortals Returning to the Cave" is a single program developed on the basis of traditional Chinese magic "Immortals Picking Beans". During the development process, the "Three Immortals Returning to the Cave" has undergone certain changes, with hard props evolving into the commonly used sponge balls nowadays
On May 16th, in the "Ghost Hand Residence" theater of Wuqiao Acrobatics World, it was Wang Ligang who took over his father's mantle and performed on stage. I dare not say that I can reach my father's level, but I will definitely make everyone leave with satisfaction, "Wang Ligang said confidently on stage.
We did not sever ties, we achieved the goal of passing on knowledge and skills, "said Mou Biwei Pengpai, Chairman of Wuqiao Acrobatics World. Currently, there are 34 intangible cultural heritage projects and 32 inheritors in the scenic area, ranging in age from 70 to 20 years old.
The fleeting moment may be beautiful, but the fragrant scenery of the four seasons is even more touching. "Mou Shuangru described her understanding of the continuity of inheritance.
Accelerating from the Dayun River to the world
Once upon a time, the ancestors of Wuqiao acrobats made a living by performing along the Grand Canal, and it was this "daring spirit" that propelled Wuqiao acrobatics to a wider horizon. Nowadays, the new generation of Wuqiao craftsmen are continuing to inherit this spiritual gene and pushing this ancient craft to the world stage.
According to public reports, Sun Fuyou, known as the "father of modern circus in the world", went north from Beijing to Russia, and then ventured to Europe and Southeast Asia, creating brilliant achievements in the history of Chinese acrobatics; There are also acrobat star Shi Dejun, who is proficient in six languages, and Zhao Fengqi, who is known as the "Oriental Charlie Chaplin". These celebrities and famous troupes from Wuqiao have brought their exquisite skills to the world.
The China Wuqiao International Acrobatics Festival held in 1987 further established Wuqiao's position on the world map through its competitive stage. At present, this grand event has been successfully held for 19 sessions and is regarded as one of the world's three major acrobatic festivals, along with the Monte Carlo International Circus Festival and the Tomorrow's World Acrobatics Festival in France.
According to China Youth Daily, the 19th China Wuqiao International Acrobatic Art Festival to be held in 2023 selected 30 programs from 22 countries and regions from over 460 registered entries from more than 50 countries and regions, making it the largest number of participating countries and teams in history.
In ancient times, men would perform the "weak crown" ritual at the age of 20, symbolizing adulthood. This year, the Wuqiao International Acrobatics Festival in China will also celebrate its own coming of age ceremony. On May 15, 2025, Pengpai News learned from the Wuqiao Acrobatics World that from September 27 to October 7, the 20th China Wuqiao International Acrobatics Festival will return to its hometown Wuqiao County. The opening and closing ceremonies will be held in Wuqiao, and acrobatic teams from all over the world will compete on the same stage in the "hometown of Chinese acrobatics". Previous opening and closing ceremonies were mainly held in Shijiazhuang.
It can be clearly seen that the dissemination path of "CHINA WUQIAO" has undergone profound changes: from relying entirely on "going out" exhibitions at the beginning, to conducting daily centralized performances at the Wuqiao Acrobatics World, and now to top acrobatic teams from around the world actively participating in competitions. The change from "output" to "attraction" is also a testament to the successful establishment of Wuqiao acrobatics on the world acrobatic stage and its status in the martial arts world.
In 2024, Wuqiao Acrobatics World successfully passed the review and acceptance of the "National Cultural Industry Demonstration Base" by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China. Among them, the scene of "September Temple Fair - Wuqiao Happy Gathering" was selected as an excellent case of weekend leisure tourism scene innovation in Hebei Province in 2024, and the acrobatic program "Nishang · Gulun" from the "Jianghu Grand Theater" was performed on the stage of the UAE Overseas Chinese Spring Festival Gala.
In the practice room of Wuqiao Acrobatics Art School, the international face practicing acrobatics with Chinese students is another observation of the increasingly expanding international influence of Wuqiao acrobatics.
Wuqiao Acrobatic Art School, established in 1985, is the first secondary acrobatic art school in China. According to a report by Hebei Daily, since its establishment, the school has been committed to cultivating students majoring in acrobatics and magic stage performances. It has trained and transported more than 3000 acrobatics and magic talents to acrobatic troupes in dozens of provinces in China, making it the "Huangpu Military Academy" of the acrobatics industry.
In addition, Wuqiao Acrobatic Art School has undertaken the task of cultivating foreign acrobatic talents assigned by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Commerce, building a bridge of friendship for foreign exchanges. Since the first batch of African international students was recruited in 2002, the school has trained more than 700 acrobatics students from over 30 countries.
CHINA WUQIAO is infiltrating the world stage of acrobatics through cultural exchange, building a bridge for communication between China and foreign countries.
On the other hand, Wuqiao is consolidating its local foundation and expanding its inheritance methods.
Pengpai News learned that in recent years, Wuqiao acrobatics has entered primary and secondary school campuses, with schools offering acrobatics themed courses, establishing campus acrobatics clubs, and choreographing acrobatics gymnastics. According to public reports, the "Acrobatic Culture into Schools" project implemented in Wuqiao County covers more than 100 primary, secondary, and kindergarten schools throughout the county, with nearly 30000 young people participating.
The small copper gong is round and leisurely, learning to play tricks and traveling in the rivers and lakes. Nanjing has taken Nanjing, Beijing has taken Beijing for a tour. The two capitals of the north and south are not taken, and spring and autumn are celebrated on both sides of the river. "This ancient" gong song "sings about the years when acrobats from Wuqiao traveled around the Grand Canal.
Nowadays, from "spending spring and autumn on both sides of the river" to stepping onto the world stage, the sign of Wuqiao's "acrobatic world" has not been lost in the rapidly developing technological world, but has become increasingly prominent.
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