Circus (Yongqiao circus)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Circus (Yongqiao circus)

Applicant: Yongqiao District, Suzhou City, Anhui Province

Project No.: 823

Project No.: VI - 51

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional sports, recreation and acrobatics

Region: Anhui Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Yongqiao District, Suzhou City, Anhui Province

Protected by: Suzhou Yongqiao circus Association

Brief introduction of Circus (Yongqiao circus)

Applicant: Yongqiao District, Suzhou City, Anhui Province

Yongqiao circus art originated in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty, formed in the 1920s and 1930s, and recovered in the 1950s. Its development is stronger than that of the reform and opening up period. It has experienced a development process from martial arts on horseback and juggling on horseback to animal performance and domestication, and then to circus performance and circus art.

Yongqiao circus integrates acrobatics and animal performance. People and animals perform on the same stage. It makes the living skills become prosperous and creates a paradise of life together. The circus's "double monkey flying man", "bear handstand", "walking steel wire", "sheep pedaling vase" and "human snake group dance", "tame lion and tiger" and other programs are well received by domestic and foreign audiences, and build a bridge of friendship and cultural exchange for people of all countries. Circus art has a profound cultural heritage. Circus artists skillfully integrate local opera, folk art, history and culture, social life, excellent foreign culture and other factors into the art of circus, which makes the circus constantly enrich and develop.

Yongqiao District, Suzhou City, Anhui Province, now has 245 circuses of various types, with more than 10000 employees and an annual net income of more than 200 million yuan. Its circus performances occupy half of the country. Although circus is popular, the impact of modern life style on it can not be ignored. It is an urgent problem to cultivate more outstanding inheritors and better adapt to the modern cultural and ecological environment.