Staging a revival

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-28 10:15

If the Forbidden City has represented China's exquisite imperial culture since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), then Tianqiao, or Bridge of Heaven, represents the folk culture of the same period.

Now, visitors can experience old Tianqiao culture in Gaobeidian.

Located off the southeastern Fifth Ring Road, Huasheng Tianqiao Folklore Culture Garden is attracting many visitors. They throng to the area to savor the past and take in the Old Tianqiao Culture Carnival every weekend.

The 450-m-long pedestrian street buzzer with acrobats, theaters and cross-talk performances - anything that embodies the flavor of old Beijing.

The Bridge of Heaven can be traced back to the late Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties when emperors had to cross a marble bridge spanning the landmark Longxugou (Dragon Beard Ditch) on their way to the Temple of Heaven. To please the emperors, local folk artists and itinerant entertainers set up stands and gave small performances.

Tianqiao gradually developed into a big, open, bustling area. Ordinary Beijing people loved to go there for fun.

The best-known attraction was the "eight wacky tricks" performers, who had some interesting stage names: Big Gold Teeth, Pockmarked Cao, Limber Donkey, Little Pigtail Wang, Stone Man, Fear No Poverty, The Bif Bear, Shensan and Hard-hand Chang.

"It was a rent-free area in the late Qing Dynasty, so many poor folk artists came to stage acrobatics, burlesque and minstrel shows," says Zhao Shaojie, the fourth generation descendant of Beijing's acrobat Zhao Baosi, who performs a fire-swallowing show at the weekend carnival.

According to Zhao, there was a code of brotherhood in the early Tianqiao. If bullies threatened trade or performers lacked traveling expenses, their colleagues would rise to the occasion and help them out.

Zhou Yulin, a 60-year-old contortionist, attracts groups of children with his wacky attire and facial expressions. Wearing a gray-black, cube-shaped hat on his head, he is dressed in a monk's ragged robe, grabs a fan in his right hand and a yellow-glazed wine gourd in the left one, while making funny faces and performing kungfu for an appreciative audience.

He often performs the role of Ji Gong, a legendary monk in folklore, who looked like a nobody but could heal the wounded and save the dying with his magic powers.

"The performances and snacks, and all the authentic products of Beijing, I miss them so much," says Wang Meijuan, who took a daytrip from Tianjin to see the carnival.

"Performers are brave. Today, many people think more about money, but they don't. It is because of them that these traditional performing arts haven't disappeared," Wang says.

Wang Shusheng, a renowned painter and now CEO of the Huasheng Tianqiao culture market committee, is on a mission to bring the old folk arts back to life.

After Dragon Beard Ditch was filled in to widen the road, the Tianqiao area was developed into a market in 1911. Shopkeepers set up seven alleys around the former Bridge of Heaven, specializing in imported goods, astrologers and fortunetellers, and unique stunts, until the 1950s. Then it was redeveloped.

In the 1990s, China's tourism and cultural activities underwent a revival. With the lingering memory of prosperity and happiness in days long gone, Wang Shusheng set out to revive old Tianqiao folk art.

In 1998, with the help of noted folk artists, Wang Shusheng rented a more than 23,000-sq-m venue near Panjiayuan Antique Market and called it Huasheng (Voice of Overseas Chinese) Tianqiao Folk Art Culture Street.

But it was difficult to make ends meet, and he couldn't even afford to eat out for dinner.

"I was tired and getting sick, but fortunately, a lot of friends helped me, both emotionally and financially."

Wang finally figured out a feasible model for his company, sponsoring cultural activities with the profits from his business.

A culture delegation from Germany spent Mid-Autumn Festival at Tianqiao street and were deeply impressed by its performances.

"The German guests went onto the stage and hugged the dancers. I remember one scholar said, 'I've lived in Beijing for 12 years, but this is the first time I have seen the real culture of Beijing. Keep it alive'," Wang says.

"It took the culture street at least three years to gain in popularity, but it was condemned to making room for apartment complexes," he says.

The next year, the 63-year-old received support from the government when it distributed nearly 660,000-sq-m in the eastern suburb of Gaobeidian to stage his dream.