I met the Xuzhou City Xiong Ying Xun Shou Tuan traveling circus in the countryside town of Nanling, in the Anhui province of China. The performers used cymbals and drums to play music while sitting atop lion cages and attracting the eyes of everybody, especially kids, they drove past on their flatbed truck. Though I spoke just a few words of Mandarin, I spent a week traveling with them.
The workers live simple, nomadic lives of hard work and little pay. The work is never done and they have responsibilities besides just performing. A worker helps setup the tent, feed the animals, do the dishes and be the DJ on any given day. Though they have few resources for performance and travel, their performances are high energy, colorful and well coordinated displays.
China has over 250 circus troupes with over 15,000 performers; surpassing the count from any other country. Contemporary Chinese traveling circuses are rooted over two thousand years to the Qin Dynasty, when acrobatic performances achieved new technical heights and became a popular form of entertainment.
