Chinese acrobatics was already an independent and highly akilled art some 2 000 years ago. Han dynasty acrobatics programmes included items such as tight rope walking, along with conjouring tricks such as legerdemain, knife swallowing and fire eating. These acrobatics acts are vividly depicted in tomb wall paintings, painted bricks, stone engravings and pottery figurines dating from the Han Dynasty and excavated in recent years in Shandong, Sichuan, Henan, Liaoning, and Inner Mongolia.
Progress in Chinese acrobatics was very great during the Tang Dynasty, between the 7th and 10th centuries, when performances were often held at the imperial court. A Tang mural in the Dunhuang Grottoes, An Outing by the Lady of Song, shows acrobatics, dancing, singing, and horsemanship. At the head of a procession of performers is a man holding an erect pole on which four men are performing stunts, such as climbing the pole, balancing on one’s head and hanging upside down. Later, acrobatics gradually lost its preeminence to a new form of entertainment, the opera, and sank to the lowest stratum of society. As acrobatics became a folk art, it absorbed rich nourishment from the lives of ordinary people. This has not only promoted its development but also enriched and enlivened its repertory.
Coming from among the working people, Chinese acrobatics items were inseparably bound to their productive work and daily life. Many traditional acrobatics items actually use labor tools and objects from daily life as props, such as hunters’ tridents, sabers, swords, tables, chairs, jars, and plates. Some items are based on folk games or sports such as shuttlecock, diabolo, weight lifting and balancing on a bamboo pole.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese acrobatics have been undergoing a renaissance. The Chinese Acrobatics Troupe, the first state-run company of its kind, was set up in 1950, and later similar troupes were founded in Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenyang, Wuhan, Guangzhou and so on. By the end of 1980, there were 120 state-run companies staffed by a total of over 10,000 performers. Chinese acrobatics artists have investigatory, discarding dangerous, violent and vulgar items and creating fresh, healthy and beautiful new ones. The rhythm of dance and the movements of calisthenics are incorporated into the new acts, and improvements are made in musical accompaniment and stage design.
Traditional items have been made more attractive by improving techniques and adding new stunts. Traditional ropewalking, for example, has now become tight-wire walking, a dazzling display of forward and backward somersaults, somersaults from a standing position and exaggerated turnabouts. “Five tables” was formerly a balancing act performed on a pyramid of five tables on top of the other. Now it has developed into a very skillful and graceful balancing act on a pyramid of 7~10 chairs stacked at an angle, performed by one person, pairs or groups. Plate-spinning artists can now simultaneously spin 12-14 plates, instead of only 4~6 as before. The performers, usually women, carry out difficult stunts like somersaulting and bending backwards to pick up a flower from the floor in their mouths when spinning plates. Juggling with jars, usually performed by men, has developed from a solo performer tossing a jar weighing about eight kilograms into the air with one hand, kicking it with his foot, rolling it around his back, spinning it round his fingers and balancing it on his head, into a dual performance in which the jar is tossed between two men from head to head. Balancing stacks of bowls on the head while making a handstand was improved by the celebrated performer Xia Juhua, who transformed it into a thrilling stunt where she balances the bowls on her head and feet while standing on one hand.
In addition, many new acrobatics items have been added to the repertoire, either brand new creations or adaptations from other activities. These include seesaw stunts, roller skating, balancing gymnastics, bowl balancing from a unicycle( where the performer, seated on a unicycle on a raised platform, uses his foot to flip bowls on to his head) and spring board stunts. Many new acts have been added to the high-altitude stunts, such as tuck dives, flying leaps, and throwing- and-catching.
As a result, Chinese acrobatics has won acclaim and praise from audiences both at home and abroad. At the Sixth World Acrobatics Festival of Tomorrow held in Paris in January 1983, Chinese acrobats won three gold medals. Many more have been won in recent years. Generally speaking, Chinese acrobatics is world famous for its distinctive national style and superb skills. In the future, it will surely continue to shine like a bright pearl.
Chinese Acrobats 
