Foreign acrobatics students learn Chinese acrobatics in Wuqiao
Wuqiao County in northern China’s Hebei Province is famous for acrobatics, and is often considered the “cradle of acrobatics.” There is a saying that “In Wuqiao, everybody from the 99-year-olds to the toddlers masters some skill of acrobatics.”
With a more than 2,000 year old history and a world-renowned reputation, Wuqiao acrobatics has drawn interest both from home and abroad, and now foreign students are traveling to Wuqiao to learn the skills.
Our Reporter Yi Xiu has the story.
Reporter: In June, 25-year-old exchange student Kaday Sandos came to China Wuqiao Acrobatic Art School from Venezuela to learn acrobatic skills. Before coming to China, he studied acrobatic performing in a Cuban school and performed for 4 years in Venezuela.
He couldn’t contain his excitement while talking about his study in China.
“I practiced acrobatics before, in my country. China is a very important country in [this] kind of art. So I feel very glad [that] my country gave me the opportunity to study here and to get better [at] acrobatics.”
Kaday is one of the overseas students selected by their national governments for the free training program offered at Wuqiao. Most of them were art students or circus performers before coming to Wuqiao.
Wuqiao Acrobatic Art School, located in western part of the city, was established in 1985 and now covers an area of over 30,000 square meters. It was the earliest secondary art school established to train acrobatic and magic talents in China, and has been admitted as a member of the World Federation of Circus Schools.
It started training programs for foreign students in 2002. So far, 110 foreign students, including 98 from Africa and the rest from the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea, have graduated from the school. Most of the students returned to their own countries or traveled elsewhere to perform their new skills. This year, the school received its 6th crop of overseas students.
Qi Zhiyi is the vice president of the school.
“The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Culture have brought our training for overseas students under one of the human resources projects for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Some students were sent here as part of a cultural exchange program funded by the government. And through various media coverage, some overseas students were attracted to our school due to their interest in acrobatics.”
Compliments came flooding in at last year’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, when 23 overseas students from the school presented a splendid performance to African leaders and officials at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
In 2003, the first crop of overseas students followed Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on a visit to Ethiopia, where they performed two acrobatic programs for nearly 40 African leaders. Qi Zhiyi narrated this story.
“After watching the performances of our students in Addis Ababa, Premier Wen was very happy. After he returned to China, Premier Wen asked the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League to hold the first China-Africa Youth Festival. The festival was held on August 24, 2005, and 18 of our overseas students were invited to Beijing to perform.”
According to Qi, overseas students come to the school between the ages of 14 and 25, while Chinese students enter the school much earlier, usually between the ages of 7 and 11. As a result, they always have fewer basic acrobatics skills than their Chinese counterparts.
Venezuelan student Kaday echoed this sentiment.
“The acrobatics [are] very difficult. Here in China, people start learning when they are very young. I am learning here [at] 25 years [of age], so it’s a little difficult for me.”
Kaday enlisted the help of teachers in his efforts to catch up with the local students.
“I trained hard every day and listened to the teachers. They gave me a lot of books and exercises. Every day, I can see I am better, and it works.”
For fourteen-year-old Kenyan Ronald Ogutu, the skill gap is not so pronounced.
“I come to China in August of this year. I started learning acrobatics in my country when I was seven, so our government decided to bring me to China. It’s not so very difficult. I don’t have any problems just by working hard.”
He is a devoted acrobatics student, and said acrobatics is more important than anything else in his life.
“I don’t do anything else more than acrobatics. It’s all about acrobatics. Sometimes I [have] some difficulties, [but] I can’t give up. I just continue what I am doing.”
According to Qi Zhiyi, vice president of the school, the overseas students get up at six o’clock each day and have a one-hour run before breakfast. Their morning training session lasts three hours and the afternoon session, nearly four hours. Aside from acrobatic exercises, they also have classes on Chinese, history of acrobatics and Chinese traditional music.
“They are very happy to study and live here. Every day they live and have meals with Chinese students together in our school, and make friends with the teachers and Chinese students. So we not only impart acrobatic skills to them, but also develop deep friendship with them.”
Kaday and Ronald get along very well with Chinese students. Though they speak little Chinese, they can communicate with body language.
“They are very friendly. We play with them a lot.”
Kaday said since life here is very different from that of their home countries, they are also learning about Chinese customs and culture.
Kaday and Ronald are very satisfied with the food and culture in China, but they haven’t yet adapted to the harsh weather of northern China. Since their own countries are both very warm, the winter weather in Wuqiao is almost too cold for them to bear.
Despite the challenges they face in Wuqiao, both Kaday and Ronald are optimistic about their prospects after they finish their one-year study. Ronald wants to return to Kenya to showcase his skills. Kaday has an even more ambitious plan for the future.
“For the near future, I hope to show myself in my country. [In the long run], I want to give an acrobatic class in my country, to be a teacher like my teachers here. For that [reason], I’m working very hard here. I would like to [bring] the information to my country.”
Qi Zhiyi, vice president of the school, pledged that after the students finish their studies, they will have mastered at least one or two repertoires to perform in their own countries. He also discussed the school’s motivation for embracing foreign students.
By giving performances in foreign countries and training overseas students, Qi said, Wuqiao acrobatics has built a bridge for cultural exchanges to Africa and the rest of the world.
These pictures were taken on the morning of October 30, 2007, in Wuqiao Acrobatics School in Wuqiao, Hebei Province, where a lot of foreign students are studying Chinese acrobatics. The first foreign students arrived here in 2002, from Tanzania.
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