A thick rope is strung between a rope-wrapped post at the left and a braced post at the right, and a walker in a cross-collar robe crosses it holding an oiled-paper parasol, with onlookers at the back; at the left stand a bamboo ladder, a stool and a tea table with a blue-and-white teapot, cups and buns, beside a tiled hall.
Rope Walking
Performing on a rope; tasuo was already among the lantern-festival shows of the Northern Song capital
Introduction
The Dongjing Menghua Lu records that at the Lantern Festival in the Eastern Capital, rare arts, songs, dances, and baixi lined the Imperial Street, and the shows included ball striking and kicking, rope walking, and pole climbing. Zhang Heng's Ode to the Western Capital also writes of rope walkers meeting on the rope. The two accounts describe the open court at Pingle and the Imperial Street at the Lantern Festival, and in both rope walking stands in a list of acts.