In 1960, Xia Juhua, an outstanding actress with the Wuhan Acrobatic Troupe, introduced soft art in a stunt which involved using her feet to carry bowls. A short time later, in 1963, she astonished audiences by bending her legs over her back, grasping bowls resting on her head and bringing the same forward.    

Juggling Bowls with the Feet by Xia Juhua

The Bowl Balancing, which has won five international gold prizes, was performed as early as in the Bai Xi (Variety Show) of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). On the brick paintings unearthed from the Han Dynasty tomb in Nanyang of Henan Province, there was already the scene of handstand on one hand while balancing bowls. In the 1950s, Xia Juhua created the novel stunt that combines jujitsu and balancing skills by nipping bowls handstand with feet and putting them on the head based on thoroughly inheriting previous balancing techniques, breaking away the old form that has existed for thousands of years.

Twenty years later, in December 1983, Li Liping, a young actress with the Wuhan Acrobatic Troupe, performed the same to a thrilled audience at the Ninth Festival International du Cirpue Monte-Carlo in Monaco. While lying on her back on a round table, Li used her foot to lift a pile of colorful patterned porcelain bowls by gently raising her hip while performing several 360-degree rolls in quick succession. The bowls remained in place as if glued to the sole of foot. She won the Clown d'Or for the performance and wrote the first chapter in successful Chinese acrobatic competition in Monte Carlo.

Li, a fourth-generation acrobat, is highly skilled in solo bowl balancing. The act involving quick rolls with dramatic turns is the act often seen in Chinese dance and opera known as "twisting on an imaginary pillar like a dragon." Li successfully incorporated the routine in her art to make it more thrilling and graceful.