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墨書 Inktalez
After ten years of the Cultural Revolution, rural China faced a severe lack of cultural entertainment. The various forms of entertainment that had been passed down for thousands of years, such as opera troupes, were classified as the "Four Olds" and eradicated. Activities like playing cards could only be indulged in during the New Year, and people's lives seemed to revolve solely around working in the fields and sleeping.
However, even in this nearly oppressive and vacuum-like period, the spirit of entertainment among the Chinese people did not vanish. Villagers found ways to enjoy rare moments of leisure, with Lion Dance and acrobatics being the most popular forms of entertainment that emerged.
When I was just starting elementary school, I had the opportunity to watch a Lion Dance performance. To celebrate the great achievement of "smashing the Gang of Four," authorities relaxed some restrictions on folk entertainment, allowing the long-hidden art of Lion Dance to burst forth. The commune organized three or four Lion Dance teams, one of which was based in Tangjiazhai, where Grandma's House was located. My uncle was a key member of this team, and I was fortunate enough to witness numerous formal and informal Lion Dance performances.
The Lion Dance team didn't require many members. First, they needed to construct the lion's frame using bamboo, and then various colorful papers were used to create the lion's fur. There should be one or several skilled artisans responsible for these tasks, but they typically worked behind the scenes and were not in the spotlight.
Once the lion was assembled, the main part of the Lion Dance involved only two people who had to crawl inside the lion's belly. Since the lion was not very large, both individuals could not be overly tall, especially the one in front. Generally, a petite person was chosen for this role. A young man named Wu Xianzhen, who lived behind my grandmother's house and had delicate features and a small stature, was selected. The person in the back needed to have considerable strength; my uncle Liu Daxuan outperformed many competitors and successfully secured his spot.
In addition to the two who crawled into the lion's belly, there was another person outside who teased and directed the lion—my cousin Liu Dazhang. Among the three, Liu Dazhang stood outside directing with great authority. He was strikingly beautiful, resembling a girl, which made him quite popular among the young women from nearby courtyards.
Wu Xianzhen was the head of the lion; occasionally, he would poke his head out of the lion's mouth to show his face while manipulating its shiny black eyes and the swaying decorations on its head, earning plenty of cheers. Only my uncle had to bend over throughout the performance as he played the lion's hindquarters. When the lion stood upright, he also had to bear Wu Xianzhen's weight. Those unfamiliar with the Lion Dance team would never realize that there was another young man named Liu Daxian involved, which made me feel quite sympathetic as his nephew.
Watching the Lion dance, us kids were just there for the excitement. The lion would sometimes lie quietly, sometimes joyfully roll on the ground, and sometimes agilely pounce on distant food. Our eyes never left for a moment. The best display of the Lion dance team's skill was when they jumped onto high tables. The lion had to jump up and then down in one go, sometimes three or four tables, and the average team could jump six tables. But my uncle's Lion dance team, they said, could jump up to eight tables.
Once, before the Lion dance started, Wu Xianzhen crawled into the lion to tease me. He opened and closed the huge mouth, walking towards me. I knew it was a fake lion, and I knew he was teasing me because he liked me, but the fear of a child made me keep backing away, and I fell into the ditch at the edge of the field. It was the cold winter before the New Year, and I didn't have spare clothes, so I had to be taken home by my grandmother and warm myself in the quilt. I heard that they jumped eight tables that night, but I missed seeing it with my own eyes.
In fact, the Lion dance can also be considered a form of acrobatics, but much simpler and requiring less manpower and resources. Therefore, as soon as the policy relaxed slightly, it flourished in the countryside. And true, traditional acrobatics slowly entered the lives of the farmers at this time.
Acrobatics troupes are not as easy to form as Lion dance teams. At that time, places like Henan, Shandong, and Anhui were known for producing acrobatics troupes; however, even in our somewhat remote mountain village, we would see them come by several times a year, no less than those outsiders who claimed they had suffered from floods and came seeking food to survive. Interestingly, they often came from the same regions, and I wondered if there was some reason they left their homeland in search of a livelihood. Or perhaps it was precisely because of the hardships of life that some chose to learn acrobatics and perform.
Performing acrobatics is different from showing movies; they usually choose to perform during the day, and not every troupe rotates through each location. In a commune, they would only perform two or three shows, and our troupe's screening venue had never hosted one. However, our enthusiasm for acrobatics was much higher than for movies. In nearby places like Osmanthus Troupe, Grandma's House in Tangjiazai, and the junior high school in the commune, as soon as we heard there would be an acrobatics performance, we would definitely gather friends and rush over to watch.
There are many performers in an acrobatics troupe, and they have a variety of acts, mainly including the following types:
One is the body contortion performed by young girls, with the most classic move being named "arch bridge." They bend and twist their bodies, with their small heads appearing from seemingly impossible places such as under their shoulders or between their feet. They also perform reverse somersaults and use their mouths to bite a small flower placed on their belly buttons. When we tried it ourselves, we couldn't even manage the simplest arch bridge. Only a few people can do the splits and draw the Chinese character "一."
Another is tightrope walking, where performers wearing soft shoes walk lightly back and forth on a steel wire, sometimes performing difficult moves like jumping, doing the splits, or even performing contortionist moves while standing still. Occasionally, someone will ride a unicycle on the wire, and some performers will pretend to slip and dangle half of their body off the wire, only to immediately hook their toes back onto the wire and continue walking.
Another act involves balancing bowls, using thin sticks to support empty bowls and slowly moving the other end of the stick to different parts of the body, such as the shoulders, forehead, elbows, knees, and fingertips. They then use subtle force to make the bowls spin, adding more and more sticks and bowls until there are too many to count. Sometimes, the bowls are filled with water, yet not a single drop spills out. Similar acts involve balancing chairs, ladders, and other items, but in these cases, the performers are usually strong and sturdy men, and sometimes a child will climb onto the other end of the chair or ladder to perform various acts.
One act involved jumping through fire hoops, a feat originally performed by agile animals like monkeys. The size, number, and spacing of the hoops varied depending on the performer, and occasionally larger animals like horses and tigers would also jump through them. However, the most thrilling performances were those done by humans, as the performers would execute complex movements while jumping through the hoops. Some would even intentionally ignite their clothing with the flames, risking singeing their hair and eyebrows.
The final act was always the most exhilarating: breaking stones on the chest. First, a board covered in iron nails was laid out on the ground, and then a burly man with a thick beard would lie bare-chested on it. The performer would slowly tense his stomach muscles while others nearby brandished swords and knives, striking down with force. A flash of blades would be seen, and his stomach would alternately turn pale and red, yet there were no visible wounds or blood. At the climax of the act, the troupe leader would invite villagers to find a massive stone weighing hundreds of pounds to place on the performer's battered stomach. Then another strong man would wield an eight-pound iron hammer, relentlessly smashing the stone until it shattered. To demonstrate that this acrobatics was genuine skill and to engage the audience's emotions, the leader would also invite one or two local men to swing hammers or wield swords.
As children, we not only loved watching these performances but also secretly tried to learn and imitate them behind our parents' backs despite their strict prohibitions. Unfortunately, without a proper teacher, none of us succeeded; instead, we ended up bruised and exhausted from our attempts. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured, and our parents pretended not to notice our escapades.
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