Chinese acrobatics art keeps many
traditional items with a long history, some of which have close connection with
wines and drinking vessels. Chinese wine culture has a long history and
traditional acrobatics and some outstanding modern items all shine with splendor
of wine culture.
In Chinese traditional acrobatic
performance, quite a few items directly originated from juggling of tools used
in production or daily life. For instance, drinking vessels and wine containers
in different shapes were successfully applied in acrobatic items favored by
people.
For instance, Jar Tricks is a famous
repertoire and still popular today. In ancient China, the peasants used jar,
originally a grain container or wine container, to perform various feats in
celebration of a bumper harvest. Later, it was adapted by acrobats and became a
very popular number among the broad masses of the people. It demonstrates
simplicity and steadiness and possesses a distinctive national
flavor.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911),
Shaoxing Yellow Wine was well known nationwide and its containers were also
valuable crafts with painting of different dragons and phoenix on them. The wine
jars became props in some acrobatics repertoires.
Another example is Juggling Objects with
the Feet, in which the performer lies on a small table or frame and uses
both feet to juggle and toss various objects back and forth through the air.
Most of the objects in performance are jars of Shaoxing Yellow Wine.
Some conjuring performances also involve
wines and wine containers such as Kong Hu Da Jiu (producing wines in
empty flagon), and Fu Gui Xian Jiu (Fuigui fairy wine), etc.
Some modern acrobatic items with wine
containers as props also become big successes. For instance, the beautiful and
graceful Rolling with Cups of Water by Xu Meihua, a young woman from a
small acrobatic troupe of Anqing, Anhui Province won the President of the
Republic of France Award, the world's most coveted prize for acrobatics. In the
performance, 108 glass cups were employed as props and the item demonstrates the
combination of wine culture and modern acrobatic art.