In a market lane between tiled shop-houses, a table holds three upturned bowls, a white cloth and a fan, and a man in a cross-collar robe tosses two balls beside it, with onlookers by the doorways; at the left an open wooden trunk holds bamboo rings and scarves in four colors, beside a rolled patterned cloth, blue-and-white cups and a bowl of balls.
Conjuring and Magic
From fire-spitting performers on Han stones to magic today
Introduction
The Ode to the Western Capital writes of swallowing knives and spitting fire, and Han stones from Nanyang show foreigners spitting fire. The Dongjing Menghua Lu records spitting colored water, burning rolled clay pellets, and swallowing iron swords among the Lantern Festival shows. Wuqiao has the traditional trick Three Immortals Return to the Cave, traditional magic is listed in Wuqiao's repertoire, and magic is one of the three branches of Liaocheng acrobatics; in 2000 the China Magic Arts Committee became a member of the International Federation of Magic Societies (FISM).