In the blink of an eye

The world of magic turns a shy, introverted boy into one of China's most recognizable TV faces. Li Mao reports

Two simple rubber bands cross the fingers of a slim young man. A second later, one passes through the other. Thirty-four-year-old Lu Chen has enchanted millions of viewers with his sleight of hand on CCTV's Spring Festival galas of 2009 and 2010, turning magic into a fad and himself into a pop star. Growing up in a family of non-magicians, and receiving no professional training, the self-taught Taiwan-based Lu is nothing short of a miracle himself. His interest in magic was triggered by a chance encounter in a department store. The then 7-year-old Lu stood transfixed as he saw a clerk doing some tricks in a section of the store stocked with magic-related stuff. He began stopping by the store every night after school. Touched by his interest, the clerk taught him some tricks.

Lu then went on to teach himself by reading books and watching videos. The young man proved his talents by picking up the gold at the Taiwan Youth Magic Competition at 12, receiving the award from his idol, the world-famous magician David Copperfield.

Later, he was invited to participate in the Las Vegas and Hollywood magic shows, two of America's most acclaimed, becoming the only Taiwan magician to receive the honor.

But it was CCTV's Spring Festival gala, a must-see for every Chinese on the eve of the lunar New Year, that brought him to the attention of more than 1 billion Chinese.

"I was very excited when I was invited to the gala of 2009," says Lu, recalling the call from director Xia Yu, who saw him on a TV talk show hosted by the well-known Lu Yu.

Millions of viewers voted his performance as one of the best shows of the gala. However, becoming a professional magician was not the first choice of the Japanese major graduate back in 1999.

"I had neither business experience nor the temperament for a 9 to 5 office job," Lu says of his fruitless hunt for white-collar employment. "It was then that I decided to look at magic as a career option. At least, magic was something I had been involved with for more than 10 years."

None of his teachers or his family supported him. "How can a university graduate like you think of becoming a magician?" Lu recalls a teacher saying when told of his plans.

Luckily, success in several world competitions gave him the confidence to persevere. But more than that, it was the sheer joy of doing magic that kept him going.

"I like to see the expressions of surprise and thrill on people's faces; it gives me a sense of achievement," Lu says.

"As long as people can imagine and have dreams, magic will live on."

Lu clearly remembers an encounter with an elderly man in the early days of his career. He told Lu that what he was doing was great but not as great as a trick he had seen 50 years ago. "I saw then that it is also a magician's job to help create beautiful memories that will last for years," Lu says.

Known for his wit and jokes, Lu was anything but an extrovert as a child. His teachers remember him as a shy student who seldom spoke up in school.

"I might have been shy and withdrawn forever if magic had not opened a door to the outside world," he says.

As China's foremost practitioner of close-up magic, Lu faces pressures that traditional magicians never experienced.

"Once a trick is shown on TV, everybody can see it. So it pushes me to continuously create new shows to draw audience attention," Lu says. He draws inspiration from ordinary things such as playing cards and coins, movies and paintings.

Another source of pressure comes from people determined to reveal the secrets behind his tricks, with some even accusing him of cheating. Lu says that while he can understand their curiosity, "It's better for viewers to simply enjoy the tricks, just like you would enjoy a movie without thinking about how it was directed".

Besides touring 10 Chinese cities, Lu may visit Europe and South America later this year. "I try to take some time out for myself and always remind myself of my earlier dream," Lu says.

His wish, he says, is to give back to people the sense of wonder of a 3-year-old - the ability to look at life with innocence, open to surprises and enjoying its simple pleasures.

(China Daily 04/24/2010 page15)